Behind every buzzy political win is usually a partner who was there long before the yard signs, and for Abdul El-Sayed, that person is his college sweetheart, Sarah Jukaku. With the Michigan doctor fresh off a win in his state’s Democratic Senate primary, curiosity about his wife is running high. So, who is Sarah Jukaku?
Here’s the full scoop on the doctor who has been by his side since college.
Sarah Jukaku Is a Psychiatrist
Long before her husband was making headlines, Jukaku was building an impressive career of her own. She is a practicing psychiatrist in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with a medical degree from Columbia University and a master’s from the University of Oxford. After years at University of Michigan Health, she struck out on her own and opened her Ann Arbor practice, Mind Work Psychiatry, in 2024. Medicine is something of a family business, too. Her parents emigrated from India, and she grew up surrounded by doctors.
Abdul El-Sayed and Sarah Jukaku Met at the University of Michigan
Theirs is a proper college love story. El-Sayed and Jukaku met as students at the University of Michigan and never looked back, tying the knot in 2006. Some 20 years and two daughters later, they are still going strong. In his book Healing Politics, El-Sayed got sentimental about his wife’s quiet confidence, writing that she “danced with her emotions” while he wrestled with his own.
Abdul El-Sayed and Sarah Jukaku Have Two Daughters
El-Sayed is a self-described “girl dad,” and he is not shy about it. He and Jukaku are parents to two daughters, Emmalee and Serene, and the family calls Ann Arbor home. He has gushed about tea parties and the everyday chaos of raising his girls, even as the couple keeps their daughters mostly out of the spotlight. Jukaku tends to stay behind the scenes too, though she has popped up in a few of her husband’s campaign videos, including one where she opened up about leaning on her union for support after facing medical complications following childbirth.
