Karen Liddle

Dr Karen Liddle is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland's Child Health Research Centre within the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences. She is affiliated with the Frazer Institute and holds a Higher Degree by Research Scholar role. Her primary research focuses on pediatric health, particularly congenital hearing loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), and interprofessional healthcare education. She has extensive experience in clinical genetics, population health studies, and healthcare workforce development.

Dr Liddle has secured research funding including the 2024-2025 'Embedding Genomics in the Childhood Hearing Clinic' grant from Illumina Australia and led FASD prevention initiatives funded by NHMRC. She actively supervises higher degree research students and is available for academic supervision.

Her recent publications emphasize genetic causes of hearing loss (e.g., GJB2 mutations), bone composition in FASD-affected children, and qualitative studies on interprofessional clinical education models. Her work bridges clinical practice and research, contributing to consensus guidelines for childhood hearing loss management and improving healthcare access for Indigenous communities.

Key areas of expertise include:

• Clinical genetics of sensory disorders
• Developmental trauma recognition in pediatric care
• Interprofessional healthcare training
• Epidemiology of FASD and neurodevelopmental conditions