Sarah Leah Whitson is the Executive Director of DAWN, an organization that seeks to support democracy and human rights in the Middle East, hold abusers accountable, and reform U.S. policy in the region. Previously, she served as executive director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa Division from 2004 – 2020, overseeing the work of the division in 19 countries, with staff located in 10 countries.

Whitson has led dozens of advocacy and investigative missions throughout the region, focusing on issues of armed conflict, human rights, accountability, and legal and policy reform. She has published widely on human rights and foreign policy in the Middle East in international and regional media, including The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, The Los Angeles Times, and CNN and appears regularly in global media, including Al-Jazeera, BBC, NPR, MSNBC, and CNN. Whitson's forthcoming book with Michael Omer-Man, "From Apartheid to Democracy: A Blueprint for Peace in Israel-Palestine," will be published in October 2025 by University of California Press. 

Previously, Whitson worked in New York for Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and Harvard Law School and is fluent in English, Arabic and Armenian.

Whitson is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and is on the boards of the the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians, the Artistic Freedom Initiative, ALQST for Human Rights, Sinai Foundation for Human Rights, Action for Hope, and the Armenian Bar Association.