Faculty

Catherine Karr

Adjunct Professor, Epidemiology
Professor, Pediatrics - General Pediatrics
Professor, Env. and Occ. Health Sciences

206-616-4355

Education

PhD Epidemiology, University of Washington, 2004
MD Medicine, University of Washington, 1999
MS Toxicology, University of Washington, 1989

Contact

206-616-4355

UW DEOHS, 4225 Roosevelt Way NE, Suite 301
Seattle, WA 98105

Bio

Catherine Karr MD PhD (she/her) is an environmental epidemiologist and pediatric environmental medicine specialist. She has a primary appointment in the University of Washington Department of Pediatrics, Joint in Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences, and Adjunct in Epidemiology. Her studies focus largely on low resourced communities in the U.S. as well as other low and middle income nations (Kenya). Her work represents methods comprising merging of large datasets on environmental factors and pediatric health outcomes as well as small in depth research using community engaged research practice. Indoor and outdoor air pollution, lead and pesticide exposures are focus areas of her expertise. She also maintains a general pediatric practice at the UW Pediatric Clinic at Roosevelt and directs a UW based regional outreach and consultation service, the NW Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU).

Research Areas

Research Interests

Clean Air, Clean Water, Sustainable Communities, Agricultural health and safety, Chemical hazards, Children's Health, Community-engaged Research, Environmental Health, Environmental Justice, Pesticides, Pollution, Wildfires

DEOHS Biography

Recent Publications (PubMed)

Early-Life Factors and Body Mass Index Trajectories Among Children in the ECHO Cohort.
(2025 May 1)
JAMA Netw Open 8(5): e2511835
Liu C, Chow SM, Aris IM, Dabelea D, Neiderhiser JM, Leve LD, Blair C, Catellier DJ, Couzens L, Braun JM, Ferrara A, Aschner JL, Deoni SCL, Dunlop AL, Gern JE, Rivera-Spoljaric K, Hartert TV, Hershey GKK, Karagas MR, Kennedy EM, Karr CJ, Barrett ES, Zhao Q, Lester BM, Check JF, Helderman JB, O'Connor TG, Rasmussen JM, Stanford JB, Mihalopoulos NL, Wright RJ, Wright RO, Carroll KN, McEvoy CT, Breton CV, Trasande L, Weiss ST, Elliott AJ, Hockett CW, Ganiban JM, Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO)
Associations of placental lncRNA expression with maternal pre-pregnancy BMI and infant birthweight in two birth cohorts.
(2025 May 21)
J Dev Orig Health Dis 16(): e20
Hussey MR, MacDonald J, Bammler TK, Tekola-Ayele F, Kerr KF, Paquette AG, Marsit CJ, LeWinn KZ, Zhao Q, Karr CJ, Sathyanarayana S, Enquobahrie DA
Early-Life Ozone Exposure and Asthma and Wheeze in Children.
(2025 Apr 1)
JAMA Netw Open 8(4): e254121
Dearborn LC, Hazlehurst MF, Sherris AR, Szpiro AA, Day DB, Loftus CT, Blanco MN, Adgent MA, Andrade-Torres AR, Ni Y, Crocker ME, Bi J, Kaufman JD, Nguyen RHN, LeWinn KZ, Moore PE, Carroll KN, Karr CJ
Wildfire Smoke Exposure is Associated with Decreased Sperm Concentration and Total Motile Sperm Count.
(2025 Mar 26)
medRxiv
Lindell LX, Holt SK, Petersen E, Gunaje N, Amighi A, Haack A, Bui A, Nasseri R, Crisostomo-Wynne T, Karr CJ, Muller CH, Walsh TJ, Nicholson TM
A descriptive examination of rurality in the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes Cohort: Implications, illustrations, and future directions.
(2025 Jan)
J Rural Health 41(1): e12908
McCormack LA, MacKenzie DA, Deutsch A, Beene D, Hockett CW, Ziegler K, Knapp EA, Kress AM, Li ZR, Bakre S, Habre R, Jacobson L, Karagas MR, LeWinn K, Nozadi SS, Alshawabkeh A, Aris IM, Bekelman TA, Bendixsen CG, Camargo C, Cassidy-Bushrow AE, Croen L, Assiamira F, Fry R, Gebretsadik T, Hartert T, Hirko KA, Karr CJ, Kloog I, Loftus C, Magee KE, McEvoy C, Neiderhiser JM, O'Connor TG, O'Shea M, Straughen JK, Urquhart A, Wright R, Elliott AJ, ECHO Cohort Consortium
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