Dr Sarker is a Bangladeshi physician with a Master's in Public Health (MPH) from Harvard University and a PhD in Public Health from Heidelberg. She was a Population Council and Fogarty Fellow at the University of Alabama. After medical school, Dr. Sarker started her career as a community-based reproductive health programmer at the Marie Stopes Clinic Society, an international organization in Bangladesh. In 1992, she joined BRAC health program as a junior consultant and worked in the Women's Health Development Program (WHDP) and was later promoted to regional manger. In 2001, she joined the Institute of Public Health at the University of Heidelberg as a research associate and was later promoted to senior lecturer. Since her appointment at IPH she has conducted research in several Sub Saharan African countries and teaching in four continents. In July 2011, Dr. Sarker was appointed as a Professor at the James P Grant School of Public Health at BRAC University in Dhaka, Bangladesh. She has published in several international peer-reviewed journals, published a book chapter, and has considerable experience in conducting mixed methods research, writing grant proposals, and managing in resource-poor settings. She remains an adjunct faculty member at the IPH in Heidelberg. Her scholarly interests include quality of care in reproductive health, and access to reproductive health services in relation to individual behavior, socio-cultural practice, and quality of care.