Karen Yao, PhD, M.S. is a public health epidemiologist and data scientist with more than 20 years of experience spanning biomedical research, bioinformatics, infectious diseases, and health systems data integration. Her work has included developing silico algorithms to identify novel viruses from metagenomic datasets, research at the National Institutes of Health on viral mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative diseases and virus-host interactions, including studies using early humanized transgenic mouse models to investigate host immune responses and communicable disease surveillance in local public health.
She currently applies these interdisciplinary experiences to Medicaid analytics at the intersection of epidemiology, health services research, and healthcare quality measurement, where she develops data-driven approaches to evaluate public health programs and healthcare delivery.
Karen’s interests include advancing evidence-informed health policy, protecting scientific integrity, strengthening public health infrastructure, promoting health equity, and using data to improve population health and decision-making