Karen Fortuna

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT KAREN FORTUNA

Dr. Fortuna holds a doctorate in Social Welfare and is a licensed independent clinical social worker. She is an Assistant Professor of Community and Family Medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. Dr. Fortuna is the Director of the Patient Innovation Lab at Dartmouth and partners with organizations to guide the development, execution, and communication of research strategies to drive scientific advances and partner with healthcare systems to test innovations in the real-world. Dr. Fortuna has more than 130 peer-reviewed publications co-authored with patient partners, and averages 1-2 invited presentations per month (and over 200 presentations) at both national and international scientific meetings (including invited presentations at SAMHSA, NASMHPD, and many other organizations). Dr. Fortuna has received funding from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), the National Institute of Mental Health, the American Federation of Aging, the Brain and Behavior Foundation, Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development, and the New York Academy of Sciences. Overall, she has been responsible for conducting or collaborating on more than 30 research projects, including topics such as older adult behavioral health, chronic disease, self-management, patient engagement in digital technologies, user-centered design, and community-engaged research, and has pioneered a new field of study, “digital peer support”. Dr. Fortuna is former Chair of the Patient Engagement National Advisory Council to PCORI. Dr. Fortuna is an invited member to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine standing committee on Primary Care and Whole Health, American Psychological Association’s Mental Health Technology Advisory Committee, and the Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts Advisory Panel.