She received her Bachelor's Degree in Biochemistry from Beloit College in 1994, obtained a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Medical College of Wisconsin in 2000, and completed postdoctoral training in Molecular and Cell Biology in the Departments of Surgery and Pathology at Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital Boston. Dr. Sander joined the faculty at the Medical College of Wisconsin in 2003, where she directed a vascular research laboratory in the Department of Surgery (Pediatric Surgery) for five years before assuming her current position as director of a clinical laboratory.