Sarah Deedat, Ph.D.
VP of Behavioral Design
“The past is always tense, the future perfect.” — Zadie Smith
As an aspiring yogi, Sarah Deedat, Ph.D., embraces tree pose.
But as a behavioral scientist, she’s perhaps even more passionate about trees and studying the impact of green spaces on patient and member wellbeing.
Her undergraduate degree is in geography and her Ph.D. is in medical geography – meaning she’s spent a lot of time studying the way places shape people’s health.
Dr. Deedat is passionate about artful and accurate cartography, and says maps helped her discover more in her adopted hometown of Bellevue, Washington. She moved to the rainy Pacific Northwest from rainy London, and says she’s inspired by the history and landscapes of each.
Dr. Deedat joined Lirio in 2023 for two reasons. One was the chance to work with Chief Behavioral Officer Amy Bucher. The other was the chance to be both scientific and creative.
“I’d spent years trying to figure out how to scale behavioral science interventions — there are so many great ideas, but getting them out into the world at scale isn’t so easy,” Dr. Deedat said. “At Lirio, combining behavioral science with AI feels like stepping into the future of personalized behavior change. Now, I get to help shape what that looks like.”
LinkedIn URL: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-deedat-0a403950/
Fun Facts
Family life: As children, Sarah and her husband — who she didn’t know at the time — were featured in the same article in a South African newspaper.
Fun fact: As a kid, Sarah was featured in the 1980s UK magazine Money for winning a competition predicting what the year 2000 would be like. Her answer? Money growing on trees. Sadly, she’s still waiting for that vision to come true.
Extra Credit
- PhD in Health Geography
- Bachelor’s Degree in Geography