Karen Skinner is a third year PhD student in the Public Health Sciences program. She is a graduate of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign with a BS in Community Health and a minor in Sociology. She is also an alum of Saint Louis University where she earned her MPH with a concentration in Epidemiology. She began her career in private industry consulting where she studied chronic disease epidemiology. Her career later transitioned to health economics and outcomes research where she utilized EMR data to study real-world oncology treatment patterns and survival outcomes. Then, Karen accepted a role with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital where she supported the research operations of the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study, which is a longitudinal study of over 38,000 childhood cancer survivors.

In 2021, Karen joined the Health Communication Research Laboratory at the Brown School. She led public health programs focused on COVID-19 mitigation efforts in St. Louis to increase access to vaccination and testing among older adults. In her role, she collaborates with community organizations and Area Agencies on Aging to reduce health disparities among older adults. Karen’s current research builds upon her collaborations with local partners to implement a virtual senior center for older adults who are homebound. This program aims to address digital equity and social isolation among older adults.