Karen Kalmakis, PhD, MPH, FNP, FAANP, is an Associate Professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (USA). She is a former Center for Research on Families Scholar, and a current member of the steering committee.
Dr. Kalmakis studies the health consequences of childhood adversity to expand understanding of how exposure to chronic stress in childhood, such as results from child abuse and neglect, affects the long-term health of individuals and families. She is currently studying the relationship between the chronic stress response and health outcomes among young adults who experienced childhood adversity as stated on this page, and screening for childhood adversity among adults in various health care settings. Dr. Kalmakis also examines a program designed to create supportive, holistic health care for children in foster care and their families. Foster children are a vulnerable population with a high prevalence of childhood adversity.
Dr. Kalmakis has experience with cortisol extracted from saliva and hair as a biomarker of neurological effects following childhood adversity. She has also used self-reported measures of perceived stress, acute stress, post-traumatic stress, and resilience in her research. She has authored several articles for peer-reviewed journals including articles focused on the stress response to and health consequences of childhood adversity.
To learn more about Dr. Kalmakis, contact her at [email protected]
Follow Karen Kalmakis on Twitter @Karenicloud and view her LinkedIn profile here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-kalmakis-0b015834.