» Table of Contents

QUERI Welcomes Kara Beck, PhD!

Kara Beck, PhD

Kara Beck, PhD, QUERI program specialist, is working with the Director of QUERI, Amy Kilbourne, PhD, MPH, and QUERI Program Manager, Melissa Braganza, MPH, to support QUERI’s mission to enhance the real-world impact of research through the implementation, evaluation, and sustainment of effective programs and policies in routine care that help improve the health and care of Veterans.

A clinical psychologist by training, Dr. Beck previously with the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Office of Women’s Health, where she led communications and outreach. HRSA OWH advances health and wellness for women across the lifespan by leading and promoting sex and gender-responsive public health approaches. Dr. Beck began her Federal career as a Department of Health & Human Services’ (HHS) Office on Women’s Health (OWH) Presidential Management Fellow, where she completed a rotation with the GSA Office of Evaluation Sciences – an interdisciplinary team that works across federal agencies to help build and use evidence. In addition, she has more than a decade of experience in behavioral health and substance abuse prevention. For example, she worked as an independent counselor, providing tele-behavioral health services to LGBTQ and general population adults with mental health concerns, including substance use disorder. Throughout these roles, Dr. Beck has worked toward providing services, impacting policy, and conducting evaluations and research that would ensure that all people have access to effective healthcare services, including mental health.

When Kara is not working, she enjoys reading science fiction and fantasy, running, and traveling to such far-off locales as rural Michigan, where most of her family still lives.