MD
Professor of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine, MD
Children's National Hospital
Washington, DC
Dr. Karen O'Connell is a pediatric emergency medicine physician at Children's National Hospital (CNH) in Washington, DC. She has served as an active EMS clinician and Associate Pediatric Medical Director with the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems (MIEMSS) since 2007. Her educational interests include critical airway management and pediatric high-performance CPR, including spearheading the statewide protocol rollout for Maryland EMS in 2018.
Dr. O'Connell currently serves on the American Academy of Pediatrics Pediatric Education for Prehospital Professionals (PEPP) Steering Committee. She also served nationally on the advisory board for the National EMSC Data Analysis Resource Center (NEDARC) for five years and as an Executive Committee member for the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Emergency Medicine for six years.
As a clinical researcher, Dr. O'Connell focuses on resuscitation quality improvement, family-centered care, patient safety, and EMS for children. She has extensive national collaborative research experience as an investigator and serves as the Site Principal Investigator (PI) for the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN).
In 2011, Dr. O'Connell earned a Master of Education with a focus on human and organizational learning from the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. She has developed numerous resuscitation education curricula for providers at all levels of training, from prehospital clinicians to subspecialty practitioners.
