Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Sarah Fazal, PhD
Sarah studies chronic overlapping pain conditions and nociplastic pain to understand patient heterogeneity and the biological mechanisms that distinguish patient subgroups.
Research
My research focuses on chronic overlapping pain conditions (COPCs) and nociplastic pain, with the goal of understanding patient heterogeneity and improving diagnosis and clinical management. I am particularly interested in identifying biological mechanisms that distinguish patient subgroups and can inform the development of mechanism-based therapeutics.
In my prior work, I developed computational approaches to detect and prioritize pathogenic repeat expansions in rare disease. These include RExPRT, a method that combines multiple signals to prioritize potentially pathogenic repeat expansions.
Current training
Building on my background in human genetics, rare disease, and bioinformatics, I am expanding my training into pain research and complex disease. My current training includes electronic health record (EHR)-based research, nociplastic pain and patient phenotyping, and complex disease genomics.
I am a trainee in the University of Michigan HEAL PAIN T90/R90 Cohort Program. My primary mentor is Lars Fritsche, with co-mentors Daniel Clauw, Andrew Schrepf, and Stephan Frangakis.