Karen Olness

Member Bio

Karen Olness is a pediatrician with a subspecialty in developmental behavioral pediatrics. She began her career as a medical missionary with C&MA in Laos. She is a Professor of Pediatrics, Global Health and Diseases at Case Western Reserve University. She has been a volunteer in many disasters and began the first training workshops on "Management of Disasters: focus on children and families" in 1996. Since then these workshops have been given annually in the US and in 14 resource poor countries. She directed the global child health program at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital for 15 years and began the first global child health track for pediatric residents. She is Medical Director of Health Frontiers, a small NGO, which developed the first pediatric and internal medicine residency programs in Laos. She has been a permanent member of several NIH Study Sections (NINDS, NCCAM and NIAID). Now semi retired, she spends part of her time on a farm in southern Minnesota which she and her husband have converted to organic. They have 10 grandchildren and are members of Holden Lutheran Church.