Faculty

Catherine Karr

Adjunct Professor, Epidemiology
Professor, Pediatrics - General Pediatrics
Professor, Env. and Occ. Health Sciences
Director, Pediatric Environment Health Specialty Unit, Pediatrics - General Pediatrics

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)

Disparities in the association of ambient air pollution with childhood asthma incidence in the ECHO consortium: A US-wide multi-cohort study.
(2025 Aug)
Environ Epidemiol 9(4): e398
Wang VA, Habre R, Ryan PH, Coull BA, Datta S, Luttmann-Gibson H, Blossom J, Just AC, Schwartz J, Yanosky JD, Aris IM, Chandran A, Kress AM, Breton C, Farzan SF, Camargo CA Jr, Liang D, Ferrera A, Peterson AK, Kerver JM, Karr CJ, Leve LD, Dabelea D, Karagas MR, Bennett DH, Nkoy FL, Aschner J, O'Shea TM, Lothrop N, McEvoy CT, Knapp EA, Schuh HB, Miller RL, Gold DR, Zanobetti A
Exposure to organophosphate ester flame retardants and plasticizers during pregnancy and autism-related outcomes in the ECHO Cohort.
(2025 Jun 11)
Environ Health Perspect
Ames JL, Ferrara A, Feng J, Alexeeff S, Avalos LA, Barrett ES, Bastain TM, Bennett DH, Buckley JP, Carignan CC, Cintora P, Ghassabian A, Hedderson MM, Hernandez-Castro I, Kannan K, Karagas MR, Karr CJ, Kuiper JR, Liang D, Lyall K, McEvoy CT, Morello-Frosch R, O'Connor TG, Oh J, Peterson AK, Quiros-Alcala L, Sathyanarayana S, Schantz S, Schmidt RJ, Starling AP, Woodruff TJ, Volk HE, Zhu Y, Croen LA, ECHO Cohort Consortium
Pesticides and neurodevelopment of children in low and middle-income countries: A systematic review.
(2025)
PLoS One 20(6): e0324375
Coleman B, Asad I, Heng YY, Menard L, Were FH, Thomas MR, Karr CJ, McHenry MS
Prenatal Air Pollution Exposure and Autism Spectrum Disorder in the ECHO Consortium.
(2025 Jun 11)
Environ Health Perspect
Ghassabian A, Dickerson AS, Wang Y, Braun JM, Bennett DH, Croen LA, LeWinn KZ, Burris HH, Habre R, Lyall K, Frazier JA, Glass HC, Hooper SR, Joseph RM, Karr CJ, Schmidt RJ, Friedman C, Karagas MR, Stroustrup A, Straughen JK, Dunlop AL, Ganiban JM, Leve LD, Wright RJ, McEvoy CT, Hipwell AE, Giardino AP, Santos HP Jr, Krause H, Oken E, Camargo CA Jr, Oh J, Loftus C, O'Shea TM, O'Connor TG, Szpiro A, Volk HE, ECHO Cohort Consortium
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)
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