Karen is the Associate Director of Education at Union Workforce Initiative. She holds a master’s degree in Public Health and Clinical Research. She is a PA State licensed Registered Nurse (RN) with advanced studies in Clinical Research from Allegheny University of the Health Sciences. She was awarded the National Collegiate Nursing Award for Academic Achievement and the Special Achievement Award for her contributions to culturally competent nursing care regarding her senior thesis, “Transcultural Nursing.” Her research has been published in medical journals such as The American Journal of Gastroenterology and the Journal of Hepatology. Her nursing career includes experiences as a Hepatology Clinical Consultant for several major pharmaceutical companies.

Karen also has a bachelor’s degree from La Salle University in Education and holds a professional certificate in teaching in both the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Her teaching experience spans her entire career on many levels. She has recently been a guest lecturer at Thomas Jefferson Undergraduate School of Nursing, speaking on topics such as Cultural Practices, Modern-Day use of Herbs in Nursing, and The Science of Meditation.

She is a member of the American Holistic Nursing Association. She teaches many classes, such as Stress Management Techniques, Lifestyle Management Techniques, and The Cumulative Burden of Chronic Stress and Life Events. She taught medical professionals, patients, and institutions (including Trenton State Prison) a variety of topics, such as self-care techniques to avoid burnout. From Karen, nursing professionals and practitioners learned how to manage stress and grief-related illnesses in their patients. She taught her chronically ill patients and their caregivers how to manage their conditions through meditative breathing techniques, practices, and guided imagery.

Karen has had years of experience in addictions and neuroscience as a nurse case manager at the University of Pennsylvania and other hospitals, working with patients on the Detox and Psychiatric floors. She worked side by side with Stanley Finkelstein, MD, DC, L.Ac, DOAM, NMT, ABIHM, and was board certified in Psychiatry, Pain, and Addictions in their private practice. In 2007 she studied with Daniel Amen MD, earning a certificate in Brain SPECT Imaging, “The Imaging Revolution in Psychiatry,” through the Institute for the Advancement of Human Behavior (IAHB) and in Brain SPECT Imaging. Karen is a Licensed Massage Therapist (LMT) in the State of Pennsylvania and holds a certificate in Meditation through “The Center for Meditation Science.”

She is an Advanced Clinical Registered Herbalist through the American Herbalist Guild and a “registered herbalist” (RH). She is also a Registered Food and Nutrition Consultant (RAFNC). She bases her approach to patient care on lifestyle interventions and natural therapies to regain a balance between the body, mind, spirit, and environment.