Departmental Affiliations
Center & Institute Affiliations
Karen Charron, MPH ‘91, is an experienced course instructor and graduate cohort director who teaches and mentors students in the Master of Health Administration program.
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Research Interests
management; healthcare; administration; mentoring; professional development; residency; diversity, equity and inclusion
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Experiences & Accomplishments
Originally trained as nurse, Karen Charron earned by BSN at Towson University and MPH at JHSPH in its 75th year (1991). She has been on the faculty of JHSPH since 1999, beginning in the Department of International Health focused on the conduct of clinical vaccine trials and led training programs for US and International investigators and teams. In 2000, Karen Charron launched one of the early online courses at JHSPH, Good Clinical Practice, a vaccine trial perspective, and taught it for 18 years and taught a MOOC course to >1600 students through Coursera.
As her career evolved, her interest in teaching, mentoring, and advising continued to grow. Karen directed the Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH) in Global Disease Epidemiology and Control for 16 years, working with over 400 students. She is currently in the Department of Health Policy and Management as Associate Director for Residency Coordination and Professional Development of the Master of Healthcare Administration (MHA) program, where she leads the professional development seminar series. Karen am honored to serve on the HPM IDARE Committee.
In the administrative space, she chaired the CEPH reaccreditation committee for the school beginning in 2013, which resulted in JHSPH reaccreditation in 2015 through 2022. She was a key contributor to the Commission on Healthcare Management Education (CAHME) successful reaccreditation of the JHU MHA program accredited through 2029. The MHA is currently ranked 9th in the country.
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Most recent publications
Charron K, Kalbarczyk A, Martin NA, Combs EA, Ward M, Leontsini E. Building Blocks of Global Health Mentorship: Motivation, Expectations, and Institutional Support. Ann Glob Health. 2019;85(1):39. Published 2019 Mar 18. doi:10.5334/aogh.1537
Kalbarczyk A, Leontsini E, Combs E, Yang F, Ahmadi A, Charron K. Evaluation and Support Mechanisms of an Emerging University-wide Global Health Training Program. Ann Glob Health. 2015;81(5):602-610. doi:10.1016/j.aogh.2015.08.025
Sahay S, Mehendale S, Sane S, et al. Correlates of HIV vaccine trial participation: an Indian perspective. Vaccine. 2005;23(11):1351-1358. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2004.09.032