Karen Innes, MSPH, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Epidemiology
Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center
WVU School of Public Health, Morgantown, WV
As an epidemiologist and clinical researcher, Dr. Innes’ work focuses on the etiology, prevention, and management of chronic, age-related disorders linked to stress, sympathetic activation, and metabolic dysregulation. Her current research includes clinical trials to investigate the potential utility of yoga in the prevention and management of chronic insulin resistance conditions, funded by grants from the NIH National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and the Office of Research on Women’s Health, as well as research initiatives regarding the potential benefits of mind-body interventions in adults with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease (and their caregivers), Parkinson’s disease, restless legs syndrome, and osteoarthritis.
Additional research projects include investigations regarding the determinants, distribution, and sequellae of sleep impairment in both adolescents and older adults, including the role of sympathetic activation and metabolic dysregulation in the etiology and progression of specific sleep disorders, and more recently, the relation of specific environmental pollutants to the development of chronic, proinflammatory, age-related conditions, including cancer, diabetes, and osteoarthritis.