Physician Assistant
Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Sara Close, MS, PA-C is an accomplished Physician Assistant with over 20 years of clinical and leadership experience in hematologic malignancies, bone marrow transplantation, and oncology. She currently serves as an HSCT & Cell Therapies Autologous Collections Clinician at Dana-Farber/Brigham & Women’s Cancer Center in Boston, where she leads quality improvement initiatives, collaborates on research in cell therapy outcomes, and co-chairs the interdisciplinary Cell Therapies Patient Education Committee.
A founding member of Dana-Farber’s Bone Marrow Transplant Physician Assistant Program, Sara has made enduring contributions to patient education and interdisciplinary integration. She developed an innovative web-based education platform and has led multiple institutional initiatives to improve clinical care processes, patient safety, and communication across care teams.
In her earlier leadership role as Chief PA for the Inpatient Hematologic Malignancies/BMT Service, she managed a team of 14 Physician Assistants and helped formalize policy, competency standards, and training aligned with FACT guidelines.
A frequent contributor to national conferences and peer-reviewed publications, Sara has co-authored research on stem cell mobilization, CAR-T resource optimization, orthostatic hypotension during transplant, and caregiver support. Her work reflects a deep commitment to improving both clinical outcomes and the patient experience.
Sara holds a Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies from Northeastern University and a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition from Purdue University. She is fluent in Spanish and previously practiced as a Registered Dietitian.