Karen obtained her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Minnesota in 2006. She is currently employed as a staff psychologist at the San Diego VA Medical Center. As a graduate student, Karen’s work focused on the investigation of cognitive impairments in individuals who use and abuse the recreational drug, Ecstasy. Her findings suggested that Ecstasy use was associated with impaired executive functions as well as deficits in verbal learning and memory and in motivated decision-making. However, these characteristics were also observed in individuals who were heavy users of other drugs. Karen completed post-doctoral training and subsequent work as a researcher with Susan Tapert and Sandy Brown at UCSD, where she has continued to investigate neurocognitive deficits in adolescents and young adults as a function of substance use and abstinence.
