Karen Meneses, PhD, RN, FAAN (Posthumous)

In Memoriam we posthumously recognize the contributions of Karen who passed away while a member of our team.

In Memoriam we posthumously recognize the contributions of Karen who passed away while a member of our team.

Karen Meneses, PhD, RN, FAAN, has over 20 years of experience in the Health and Life Sciences sector as well as Data Analytics. She serves as both a special advisor to Kirchner Group in Health and Life Sciences.

She is also a Professor and Associate Dean for Research in the School of Nursing at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Dr. Meneses is a preeminent internationally known researcher in cancer survivorship disparities research with a prolific and sustained history of scientific contributions, methodological innovations, and evidence-driven translational programs that have improved the lives of cancer survivors. She was the recent recipient of the Ada Sue Hinshaw award; the most prestigious award for lifetime achievement by a nurse scientist.

Dr. Meneses’ expertise was recognized by President George W. Bush when he appointed her to the National Cancer Advisory Board. She has served on federal grant review panels for over twenty years and was recently appointed to the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Advisory Committee on Breast Cancer in Young Women. She also holds appointments as a Senior Scientist and concurrent appointment as Co-Leader of the Cancer Control and Population Sciences Program of the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center. Additionally, she holds appointments as Senior Scientist at the UAB Center for Outcomes and Effectiveness Research, the UAB Center for Healthy Aging, and the UAB Center for Health Disparities Research. In addition, Dr. Meneses served as Chair of the Mentoring Panel of the UAB Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences.

Work with large data sets has been one of Karen’s hallmarks. Collaborating for many years, Drs. Meneses, McNees and their team analyzed data from over 50,000 breast cancer survivors in their attempts to develop and deploy more cost-effective systems to address the needs of rural survivors. She and Dr. McNees’ analysis of over 4 billion different possible wound-patient profiles resulted in a better understanding of how chronic wound healing is similar and different in cancer patients versus patients without cancer. The collaboration also lead to one of the first 125 interventions included by the National Cancer Institute Research Tested Interventions Programs for widespread professional and public dissemination.

Drs. Meneses and McNees have co-authored 19 articles that have been published in the peer-reviewed professional and statistical literature.

Dr. Meneses received her doctorate and master’s degree in nursing from Boston College and her baccalaureate degree from Georgetown University.