KAREN JOANIE CAMPOVERDE REYES

Winner of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Latino 30 under 30 Award

 

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Harvard

Age: 27

Heritage: Ecuadoran

 

Notable Accomplishments:

 

• Endocrine Society Early Career Member Award

• Endocrine Society: Newsworthy Abstract recognition for special media attention

 

Karen Joanie Campoverde Reyes is a 27-year-old Ecuadorian physician that obtained her bachelor's degree and Medical degree at the Instituto Tecnologico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Mexico.

 

At the age of 24, Karen was accepted into the Principles and Practice of Clinical Research program at Harvard Medical School . This course is known for only accepting graduates, however she was accepted while still in Medical School.  She became the youngest in her class to receive the PPCR Diploma in 2016.

 

This opportunity opened a window for Karen to learn about research at the Neuroendocrine Unit at MGH for Children where she volunteered for 2 years and became one of the few Latinas that has performed research at Harvard focused on children with eating disorders, athletes, autism, and obesity.

 

More recently, Karen joined the Liver Research Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center where she actively works on multiple Hepatitis B projects.  She is mainly focused on pregnant women with Hepatitis B. 

 

She hopes to better understand the disease’s behavior and prevent vertical transmission from the mother to the baby and has written about the importance of managing the hepatitis B virus in this vulnerable population.

 

Karen is also focusing her knowledge and efforts in the fight against the child obesity bias. Karen has explored the utilization rates, benefits and disadvantages of bariatric surgery.

 

To date, she has presented her work at several national conferences. She is also a published author in numerous high impact journals.

 

In 2018 she earned a Presidential Poster recognition along with a Newsworthy abstract recognition for special media attention for her work in Pediatric Obesity with Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford, at ENDO 2018.

 

For Karen Joanie being a Latina physician is synonymous with courage, competitiveness, uniqueness and warmth. As the Latino community continues to grow she hopes to motivate more young Latinos to pursue a career in healthcare and research.

 

During her medical training, she went to Ecuador to work with kids with cancer at SOLCA. This life-changing experience showed her that kids are the strongest beings on this planet. She holds a deep respect for their attitude towards severe illness and she hopes to be able to balance her research with a clinical career focused on Pediatrics in the near future.