Karen L. Edwards, PhD, MS

Associate Professor, Epidemiology

Dr. Karen Edwards is the Director of the UW Center for Genomics and Public Health, one of only two units in the U.S. The goals of the Center, are to integrate advances in genetic technology into public health practice and to offer research and educational opportunities for public health students and professionals.

Dr. Edwards is also a member of the core faculty in the Institute of Public Health Genetics. and coordinates the degree track in genetic epidemiology, as a joint effort between the Institute for Public Health Genetics and the Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics.

Contact Information
Box 354695
Department of Epidemiology
Health Sciences, F-363
Seattle, WA 98195
Tel: 206-616-1258
Fax: 206-616-0688
keddy@u.washington.edu

Research Interests
Dr. Edwards' primary research interest is in the area of genetic epidemiology, particularly diabetes and the insulin resistance syndrome (IRS). However, she works on a broad range of topics and disease areas. Her work currently involves defining multivariate phenotypes for complex diseases and then using these phenotypes for mapping studies of diabetes and the IRS. She is also interested in interactions between environmental factors (diet) and genetic susceptibility to complex disease.

Teaching Interests
Dr. Edwards currently teaches EPI518/PHG518 "Computer Applications in Genetic Epidemiology" offered in the Spring Quarter, and is a co-instructor for EPI517/PHG511 "Genetic Epidemiology" offered in the Winter Quarter.

Education
PhD, Epidemiology, University of Washington 1996
MS, Nutritional Sc, California State University, Chico 1991

Selected Publications
Kim H, Marcovina SM, Edwards KL, McKnight B, Bradley CM, McNeely MJ, Psaty BM, Brunzell JD, Motulsky AG, Austin MA. Lipoprotein(a) as a risk factor for maternal cardiovascular disease death. Clinical Genetics. 2001; Clin Genet. 2001;60:188-97.

Edwards KL, Talmud PJ, Newman B, Krauss RM, Austin MA. Lipoprotein Candidate Genes for Multivariate Factors of the Insulin Resistance Syndrome: A Sib-pair Linkage Analysis in Women Twins. Twin Research. 2001; 4:41-7

Kim H, Friedlander Y, Longstreth WT, Jr, Edwards KL, Schwartz, SM, Siscovick DS. Family history as a risk factor for stroke in young women. Am J Prev Med. 2004 Dec;27(5):391-396.

Kim H, Hutter CM, Monks SA, Edwards KL. Genome-wide linkage analysis of alcoholism in the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism: Comparison of SNPs and microsatellites in detecting quantitative trait loci. BMC Genetics. 6 Suppl 1: S5, Dec/30/2005.

Zabetian CP, Hutter CM, Factor SA, Nutt JG, Higgins DS, Griffith A, Roberts JW, Leis BC, Kay DM, Yearout D, Montimurro JS, Edwards KL, Samii A, Payami H. Association analysis of MAPT H1 haplotype and subhaplotypes in Parkinson's disease. Ann Neurol. 2007 May 18, (epublish ahead of print).