She is a professor of neuroscience and director of the Laboratory of Behavioral Genetics at the Brain Mind Institute (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne).

[1][2] Born and raised in Torrelavega (Cantabria), Spain, Sandi moved to Salamanca to obtain her BS and MS from the University of Salamanca in 1984 and further to Madrid for her PhD at the Cajal Institute (Spanish National Research Council) and the Autonomous University of Madrid in 1988.

[1] She continued her postdoctoral research at INSERM, Bordeaux, France (1989–90) and Open University, UK (1991–96).

[4] Her interests have expanded beyond social dominance[5] across multiple subjects and into coping mechanisms in depressive situations at the individual level.

[8][10] She also serves on the editorial boards of Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences,[11] Journal of Psychiatric Research,[12] Neurobiology of Stress,[13] Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews,[14] eNeuro,[15] Biological Psychiatry[16] and Psychoneuroendocrinology.