Karen Lindsay

Karen Lindsay serves as Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, Irvine, with secondary affiliation in Population Health & Disease Prevention. Her work bridges clinical pediatrics and public health to address maternal-child health disparities through translational research.

Her research examines nutrition-stress-behavior interactions during pregnancy, focusing on metabolic outcomes, fetal programming, and health equity. She employs longitudinal cohorts (e.g., Dad Bod study), randomized trials (PEARS intervention), and biomarker analyses to evaluate how dietary patterns, discrimination, and mindfulness impact maternal-infant health across diverse populations.

Recent publications reveal dual expertise: (1) diet-stress-discrimination pathways in perinatal outcomes (50+ papers on pregnancy nutrition, adiposity, and telomere biology), and (2) CRISPR-based therapies for rare diseases (10+ angioedema studies). This spans public health intervention, molecular medicine, and health services research with emphasis on vulnerable populations.