Pronouns: she/her/hers

Sarah Axelson, MSW, is the Senior Director, Innovation, Training, and TA at Power to Decide, where among other projects she manages the Innovation Next program, supporting innovative technology-based solutions to preventing teen pregnancy and improving adolescent health.

Having worked in the field of sexual and reproductive health for more than a decade, Ms. Axelson is passionate about the intersection of adolescent sexual health and the science of learning, and has built her career around educating professionals in order to better serve youth and their families. Her career has included time in the federal government, as a Project Officer for the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program in the US Department of Health and Human Services/Family and Youth Services Bureau, as well as work in the non-profit world, as the Director of Training at ETR and as a Program Manager at Advocates for Youth, among other roles. To make sure that she stays directly connected to young people, Axelson also serves as an Adjunct Faculty member at two local universities, teaching Human Sexuality to undergraduate students and more recently, accompanying students on service learning trips as part of the Alternative Spring Break program.

She holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work and a certificate in Nonprofit Leadership from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an undergraduate degree from James Madison University.