You could say Sari Fishman’s life is a story that strings together unexpected turns, quiet revelations, and a certain restless curiosity. It’s not the kind of story you tell in a straight line; it’s more like a mosaic you piece together as you go. She might call it bridging the gaps. That’s what she does, after all—connecting dots that most people wouldn’t think to connect. But don’t mistake that for simplicity. There’s nothing simple about the way Sari Fishman moves through the world.
FALLING INTO SCIENCE
She didn’t set out to be a biotech leader. That’s the funny thing. For twenty years, she ran a dance studio for children, spent her days with pirouettes and pliés, and her nights on doctoral studies in education. Then her mother, Professor Pnina Fishman, threw a curveball. She needed help with clinical data from an oncology department. Sari didn’t think much of it—just a day at the hospital, a favor for Mom.
But the hospital wasn’t just a hospital. It was a world. A charged, raw, relentless world that you couldn’t just shake off. “By the end of that day, I called my mother and told her I wasn’t going anywhere,” she says. “I stayed on as a volunteer, just to be part of it.”
She wasn’t content to watch from the sidelines. She dived in. Biology lectures. Certificate courses in clinical research. A starting salary of $1,000 that didn’t matter, because she was already hooked. One foot in education, the other in science—until the scales tipped. She let go of her studio, climbed the biotech ladder, and found herself at the top: Vice President of Business Development. She says the role fits her personality perfectly. You can tell she means it.
BALANCING ACTS
But here’s the thing: Sari Fishman doesn’t believe in work swallowing your life whole. “Work is just one piece of the puzzle,” she says. She talks about weaving it all together—work, family, hobbies, and the strange, unpredictable pull of art.
Because art doesn’t ask permission. It just bursts out of her. Photography. Painting. Video art. Poetry. Dance. Audio. The medium doesn’t matter; it’s the idea that drives everything. “It’s like it organizes itself,” she says. “And then comes the catharsis.” Her art—social, environmental, piercing—has found its way into galleries, museums, and festivals around the world since 2016. She calls it a blessing, and you can tell she means that too.
Her latest project? A book that pulls no punches. Inner Self Portrait – Poems and Paintings digs deep, unearthing infatuation, passion, danger, disappointment, and longing.
Inside the Words
The poems are small storms. They spin you around and leave you wondering where the ground is. Take this one:
A POEM ON SUICIDE
hanging from a thin rope for a fleeting moment between you and me
it is all in the head life
the colors red
until the crash
fantasy will penetrate reality
and falsehood will satiate the twosome
or this :
FROM A DISTANCE
its best
that way
no one gets hurt
to blur you inside the frame
to transform you
into a breathtaking impressionist picture
from a distance it’s best
that way
you will there remain do not move
idée fixe
stimulated and wet
ALWAYS MOVING FORWARD
Even as her art digs into the most personal corners of existence, her work in biotechnology marches forward. She’s driving partnerships, crafting strategies, and pushing science to do what it does best—save lives. She talks about her team like it’s a privilege just to be part of it. You believe her.
She’s not one to stand still. She’s always building something new, reaching for the next connection. And when you step back and look at the whole mosaic—science, art, family, passion—it’s not just a life. It’s a masterpiece.
Find more of Sari Fishman’s world at www.sarifishman.com ; www.linkedin.com/in/sari-fishman-phd-43150610 ; www.amazon.com/author/sari.fishman ; @sari.fishman.books; or reach out to her at sarifishman1711@gmail.com.
Angela Garcia- picture credit