Karen is Professor of Nursing and Head of School in the School of Nursing Midwifery and Public Health where she provides leadership and vision for nursing, midwifery and public health education and research. Karen held the appointment of Clinical Chair in Nursing at ACT Government Health Directorate from October 2017 to September 2019, In this clinical academic leadership role she provided research leadership and vision for nursing research within the university and  ACT Health, developing both research and research active staff.

Karen is currently an Executive Board member of the Council of Dean of Nursing and Midwifery of Australia  and New Zealand, Visiting Professor of Nursing at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland,and a Fellow of the European Academy of Nursing Science.

Karen joined the University of Canberra in 2017 when she relocated to Australia from the UK where she had worked in various academic roles at Edinburgh Napier and Robert Gordon universities.  Karen has also held a number of external examiner positions at various universities in the UK and Ireland.

Karen is an experienced academic leader in the disciplines of nursing, and academic development, academic strategy and practice having previously worked in NHS, higher education and third sector settings in the UK. Karen has provided curriculum consultancy to the Egyptian Military Nursing Schools (2015) and to the Ministry of Health in Libya  (2014-2015). As a panel chair and member, she has worked for the National Commission for Academic Accreditation and Assessment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on both program and institutional accreditations.

In 2015 Karen was awarded a Leadership development scholarship by the Florence Nightingale Foundation/Council of Deans of Health. The competitively awarded scholarship afforded the opportunity to undertake overseas study tour in Boston and Philadelphia and ultimately lead to the development of the North of Scotland Applied Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Research unit, a collaborative research unit between NHS Grampian and Robert Gordon University.

Karen has a sustained track record of publishing and reviewing in peer reviewed journals, book chapters and presenting at international conferences and delivering keynote presentations. She is currently Editor of the Australian Journal of Cancer Nursing, a member of the Editorial Board for the Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing, a member of the international advisory board for Nurse Education in Practice, and was founding editor of the Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice.

To contribute to the wider community Karen serves as Board Chair to Canberra College in the ACT, as a member of the NMBA ACT Territory Board, and was previously Non-Executive Director of Alcohol and Drugs Action, Aberdeen, Scotland.

Karen is an experienced researcher in the fields of cancer, chronic conditions and palliative care. Her methodological expertise lies mainly in qualitative approaches but she also has experience of quantitative approaches has undertaken a number of systematic reviews.

Karen has provided research supervisor for a number of students in the UK and Australia. She has also examined doctoral theses.

Prospective students and collaborators interested in in researching in cancer, palliative care and chronic conditions are welcome to contact Karen for further discussion.