Sara Kintzle joined the University of Southern California in 2013 after graduating from the University of Georgia's doctoral social work program. Kintzle also received Master's and Bachelor's degrees in social work, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, from the University of Iowa. She is currently a research professor at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work.

She has focused on building an expertise in the life experiences of individuals who currently or previously served in the United States Armed Forces. Her expertise broadly focuses on four areas: 1) the building and validation of theory as a mechanism for understanding the challenges faced by current and former service members; 2) leading research studies aimed at providing insight into the experience of service members and veterans that include the following topics: risk and protective factors related to successful military transition, challenges to psychological and physical health, risk for suicide, sexual harassment, stalking and sexual assault, the experience of National Guard and Reserve service members, the experience of women in the military and post-transition, and securing post-service employment; 3) the development and testing of interventions, informed by both theory validation and research findings, aimed at the prevention of adverse outcomes for service members and veterans; and 4) translating scientific findings into program and policy recommendations.

Kintzle’s work at USC includes a demonstrated record of obtaining external funding. She is currently the principal investigator on several grants, all exploring issues of well-being in military and veteran populations. She is currently the principal investigator on a large California longitudinal study examining the impact of connecting veterans to service benefits. In 2023 she published The State of the American Veteran: The Southern California Veterans Study, which was the result of the largest and most comprehensive study of veterans in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego Counties. In 2018, as co-principal investigator, she received a grant from the Army Research Institute to examining how divergence between policy, messaging and actions impact military readiness and performance. From 2015-2018, she served as co-principal investigator on a Department of Defense grant investigating the comparative efficacy of peer-to-peer role play, standardized actor patient training and virtual client training in training social work students in culturally competent military practice.

Kintzle has earned a reputation as national and international leader on issues related to military service. In 2025, she was appointed to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committee on the Assessment of Department of Veterans Affairs Physical and Mental Health Examinations, undertaking a review of the VA's protocols regarding claims related to military sexual trauma (MST). In 2024, she met with Congressional and Department of Defense staff on how the results from the Southern California Veterans study might impact policy. In 2021, she presented to President Biden's Department of Defense Independent Review Commission on Sexual Assault in the Military. She represented the United States as an expert on a NATO panel addressing sexual violence in the military in 2017. In 2015, she spoke on a panel at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. regarding her work on economic and employment challenges facing U.S. veterans. Kintzle has over 70 published articles and reports and over 75 accepted conference presentations.

Along with her extensive research experience, Kintzle is dedicated to teaching, mentoring and service. She has mentored students at all levels, including postdoctoral, doctoral, masters and bachelors students. Her mentorship has led to numerous student/staff-led publications and conference presentations.

To reference the work of Sara Kintzle online, we ask that you directly quote their work where possible and attribute it to "Sara Kintzle, faculty at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work” (LINK: https://dworakpeck.usc.edu)