Karen B. Williams, RDH, MS, PhD

Karen B. Williams is Professor and Chair of Biomedical and Health Informatics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine. She earned her Ph.D. in Psychology and Research in Education with an emphasis in evaluation, measurement and statistics, and a minor in health outcomes research at the University of Kansas. Her primary teaching responsibilities have included research methodology, biostatistics and clinical reasoning. Her research interests include clinical reasoning, health outcomes, oral health, and health behavior. She has served as a principal and co-investigator for numerous corporate funded research projects as well as federally-funded (NCI, NCCAM and NIMH) projects. These include evaluating behavioral strategies (MI) for reducing tobacco use, and improving adherence to medications in an HIV population; testing the effectiveness of Sutherlandia, a South African indigenous phytotherapy treatment for HIV+ patients; and Phase I, II and III clinical trials as well as product effectiveness studies. Dr. Williams believes that optimal health outcomes are achieved only by thoroughly understanding the complex nature of human behavior, social context and biological systems.