View Sarah Nicklin's Find-a-Doctor profile

A graduate of Dartmouth Medical School, Dr. Nicklin completed her Family Practice residency at St. Francis Hospital & Medical Center in Hartford CT and a fellowship at Highland Hospital in Rochester, NY.

Her career in family medicine included caring for patients and families throughout the life cycle, from prenatal and birthing care through end of life care. After coming to Lehigh Valley Health Network in 1997, Dr. Nicklin practiced full-spectrum family medicine and taught in the Family Medicine Residency.  She joined OACIS, the network’s palliative medicine program, at the start of its inpatient consultation service in 2006.  She has been Medical Director of Lehigh Valley Hospice since 2012. 

Nicklin is board-certified in Family Medicine, Hospice and Palliative Medicine, and by the Hospice Medical Director Certification Board.

Her love of caring for patients and families navigating the challenges of serious illness and advanced complex illness has continued to grow.  Participating as part of the interdisciplinary care team that provides such devoted and compassionate care to patients and families during this difficult time is a privilege for which she feels grateful every day.  She sees the difference the patient and family-centered care provided by the palliative and hospice care teams makes in the quality of people’s lives every day.

Nicklin’s interests include improving how professionals provide hospice and palliative care in ways that help them feel fulfilled by the work, make it sustainable, improve their resilience and reduce the risk of compassion fatigue and burnout.  She is interested in creating a culture of interprofessional support and resourcefulness within the context of interdisciplinary patient care that creates ripples of compassion, resilience and sustainability from clinicians and staff to patients, families and community.  She says it is a privilege to be able to include clinical education of fellows, residents and medical students in this process.