Our Leaders

Dr. Karla A. Lawson, PhD, MPH, RD is the Research Scientist and Director of the Trauma and Injury Research Center at Dell Children’s Medical Center and a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Texas-Austin Dell Medical School. She received her doctoral degree from the University of Texas in 2003 and was awarded the Cancer Prevention Fellowship at the National Institutes of Health for 2003-2006. She received a Master in Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2004, where she concentrated in epidemiology and biostatistics. She is an Assistant Professor of Public Health at the University Of Texas School Of Public Health Austin Regional Campus, Assistant Professor of Surgery at The University of Texas Dell Medical School, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Texas Medical Branch, and a visiting Professor of Nutrition at the University of Texas at Austin Department of Nutrition. She currently is the instructor for two trauma-related research classes for the University of Texas Medical Branch and both practicum and culminating experience electives for the University of Texas School of Public Health. Her current research interests include the prevention and clinical decision making of non-accidental trauma injury, injury surveillance, and best clinical practice.