Sara Austin is the features director for News and Health at SELF magazine. She is responsible for all health and investigative articles in SELF and their corresponding features on Self.com. Ms. Austin oversees SELF's well-known annual healthiest cities analysis and women's cancer handbook. She joined SELF in March 2002 as senior features editor.

Stories Ms. Austin assigned and edited have been nominated for National Magazine Awards from the American Society of Magazine Editors in both the public interest and personal service categories, with one win in 2005 for the cancer handbook. The same year, she received a Clarion Award for Best Magazine Feature from the Association of Women in Communications for writing "Think You're Covered? Think Again" an investigation into aggressive collection practices among hospitals. Other features she edited have been recognized with awards from the Society for Women's Health Research, the Association of Health Care Journalists, the National Women's Political Caucus and the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

Before joining SELF, Ms. Austin was senior news editor at Marie Claire and senior editor at Civilization. She has written for The Nation, Parents and Chicago magazine. She has appeared on CNN, Fox News and numerous other broadcast programs.

Ms. Austin received her bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her master's degree from the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University. She lives in Manhattan with her husband, Kyle Smith, and their daughter.

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