Associate Professor
College of Medicine and Public Health
Karen obtained her BSc (Hons) degree from Flinders University in 1997. She then went on to carry out her PhD research at Adelaide University, based at the Women's and Children's Hospital, in the area of neurogenetics. During this time her research was in the identification of genes involved in intellectual disability, culminating in the identification of genes for 2 disorders (BFLS and ARX). Following her PhD studies, Karen was awarded a Nuffield Medical Research Fellowship, enabling her to take up a post-doctoral research position at Oxford University, UK. During her time in Oxford, Karen's research was predominantly in the field of gene regulation and chromatin remodeling, in addition to lecturing and tutoring medical students in Medical Genetics and Biochemistry at Oxford University. After spending 7 years in the UK, Karen returned to Flinders University in 2010 to continue both teaching and research in human genetics. In addition to developing and coordinating all undergraduate human genetics topics at Flinders, Karen has also played a key role in the implementation of Team Based Learning in the MD degree.
BSc (Hons) in Medicine, Flinders University
PhD in Medical Research, Adelaide University
Graduate Certificate in Education (Higher Ed), Flinders University
1997 - Flinders University Medal
2000 - Awarded Adelaide Research Scholarship (National) for Ph.D. studies
2002 - Winner, Young Investigator of the Year, Women's and Children's Hospital
2002 - Awarded Postgraduate Travelling Fellowship, Adelaide University
2002 - American Society of Human Genetics, Predoctoral Presentation Award Finalist, 52nd Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD, October 2002
2003 - Awarded Nuffield Medical Research Fellowship for a postdoctoral research position in Oxford, UK
2006 - Awarded Career Development Fellowship, MRC
2009 - Abstract selected for presentation at the Plenary Session of the American Society of Human Genetics Annual Meeting, Honolulu, HI
2011 - Flinders Medical Students Society Bren Gannon Award for Enthusiasm and Dedication to Teaching in the Medical Degree
2013 - Executive Dean's Teaching Excellence Award for Reinvigorating Human Genetics Teaching
2013 - Flinders Medical Students Society Bren Gannon Award for Demonstrating Excellence and Passion for Teaching
2015 - Flinders Medical Students Society Bren Gannon Award for Demonstrating Excellence and Passion for Teaching
2016 - Flinders Medical Students Society Best Lecturer MD1 Award for Excellence in, and Dedication to, Medical Education
2017 - Flinders University School of Medicine Dean’s Award
2018 - Nomination for 2018 FCIC Supervisor of the Year
2019 - Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching
2019 - Finalist, STEM Educator of the Year Tertiary Teaching, SA Science Excellence Awards
Senior Lecturer in Genetics and Molecular Medicine
Teaching Program Director, Medical Biosciences
Discipline Lead, Genetics and Molecular Medicine (Acting)