Ms. Adkins is the coordinator for the Vanderbilt University site. Her primary areas of research are related to sleep difficulties in children with autism spectrum disorder, the impact this has on the family unit, and the child’s ability to perform activities of daily living at their highest potential. She holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling and Communication and undergraduate degrees in both Occupational Therapy and Nursing. She has achieved Certified Clinical Research Coordinator status through the Association of Clinical Research Professionals. She has 37 years of experience in the field of healthcare including direct patient care, home health administration and community education. The past 15 years experiences had a primary focus in the area of pediatric research. She started work at Vanderbilt Medical Center in 2001 as a research coordinator in Pediatric Clinical Research Center where she was responsible for regulatory support across a range of pediatric clinical trials in such areas as new vaccine trials, pediatric oncology tissue banking and enzyme replacement therapies for orphan diseases. Over the past 9 years she has worked with Dr. Beth Malow, as a project manager, in areas including regulatory affairs, FDA-IND filing and reporting, and IRB submissions. Her emphasis is in areas of protocol development and completion of investigator initiated new grant application processes. In her current position she manages the sleep research team which includes study coordinators and research assistants. She is the first author on two publications that are currently in press; and is first author on numerous abstracts that have been presented at the national and international levels.

Clinical Sites

Vanderbilt University

Karen Adkins, MA, RN, CCRC, Coordinator