Saras Chung is a social systems scientist with over two decades of experience as a youth development practitioner and system dynamics researcher. Her scholarly work examines and anticipates the side effects of policies and practices that are intended to foster well-being for adolescents in under-resourced communities. 

She is currently an Research Associate Professor at the WashU Brown School of Social Work. Before joining the Brown School, Chung was the Executive Director of SKIP Designed and conducted community-based systems research with public schools and organizations serving youth in low-income communities. Over the past decade, she’s advised over $30 million in community investments through various philanthropic partners and provided consulting, system dynamics training and research services for Google, the Centers for Disease Control, HHS Office of Population Affairs, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and numerous school systems. Chung received her PhD and master’s in social work from Washington University in St. Louis and her Bachelors of Science in Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Her research agenda includes: 1) Adolescent well-being and academic growth in schools through teacher-focused systemic redesign and 2) Community-Based System Dynamics research to improve service delivery in schools and communities and 3) Child and adolescent social and emotional growth in schools.