Impact Story: Sarah Lacey, ’95, ’99 MD

Member of The Founders Society-NULC (Sustainer) and Service Society

This story was published in The Founders Society Impact Stories, a publication that highlights leadership donors to various areas of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Read the whole issue here.

At the tender age of five, Denver native Sarah Lacey, MD, announced to her family and friends her intention to become a pediatrician. Visits to her childhood doctor sparked her interest in how the human body worked. Poring over her family’s home encyclopedias, she had learned enough about diseases that by the sixth grade she diagnosed her own case of chicken pox. She remembers seeing the telltale blister of the common viral infection on her arm and remarking, “Oh my, it looks like a dew drop on a rose petal. It must be chicken pox!”

In 1999, Dr. Lacey became the first and only doctor in her family when she graduated from Northwestern’s seven-year Honors Program in Medical Education. Still passionate about being a kid doctor, she spent her internship year at Indiana University’s Riley Hospital for Children and then completed her pediatrics residency training at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Today, Dr. Lacey is a provider with Sapphire Pediatrics, a small independent practice based in Denver, where every day she fulfills her childhood declaration of being a pediatrician thanks to Northwestern.

Her gratitude for her medical education has led Dr. Lacey to spearhead fundraising efforts for the Class of 1999 Scholarship to provide future recipients with the opportunity to pursue their dreams. “My father grew up very poor, but he managed to earn a college degree. Both of my parents prioritized education for my siblings and me,” said Dr. Lacey. “Given how far my family has come, I see scholarships as a way to pay it forward and help others realize their potential.” 

In addition to giving back to Feinberg, Dr. Lacey became a new board member of the Northwestern University Leadership Circle (NULC) this spring. Committed to volunteering, she is helping to establish an NULC Denver Regional Board to reach out to alumni in the area and share in her enthusiasm for supporting the institution that means so much to her.

“My formative years at Northwestern made me who I am today,” she said, “I still pinch myself with how lucky I have been!”