Karla A. Lawson, Ph.D., MPH

Karla A. Lawson is the director of the Dell Children’s Trauma and Injury Research Center in Austin. Her research interests include the epidemiologic, clinical and behavioral study of childhood injury, injury prevention and trauma clinical care. Her studies focus on child abuse recognition, treatment and prevention, behavioral determinants of injury including caregiver alcohol consumption, interventions for injury prevention, as well as developmental and psychological outcomes of pediatric trauma.

Lawson received her doctorate from The University of Texas at Austin 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.