Community-Based Participatory Research

About Karen A. Hacker

Dr. Karen Hacker M.D. MPH is the executive director of the Institute for Community Health a community research organization dedicated to CBPR (Community Based Participatory Research) in Cambridge MA. She is an associate professor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health where she teaches Community-Based Participatory Action Research. She serves as the Senior Medical Director for Public and Community Health at the Cambridge Health Alliance and provides leadership for population health initiatives as well as practicing as a primary care physician. She received her M.D. from Northwestern University her adolescent medicine fellowship from Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles and her masters from Boston University. She has extensive experience with CBPR and has worked with diverse community partners to catalyze change in both practice and research environments focusing on topics that range from child mental health and immigrant health to obesity prevention.