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Karen L Fortuna, PhD

Contact Information

Professional Interests

Dr. Fortuna is an Assistant Professor of Community and Family Medicine and Co-Founder of the Collaborative Design for Recovery and Health (https://collabrh.org). As an international volunteer collaborative of patients, community health workers, peer support specialists, caregivers, policymakers and payer systems, the Collaborative uses community-based participatory research to facilitate the development, evaluation, and implementation of tools to develop a workforce of lay providers with lived experience expertise to support similar others through peer support and evidence-based practices. Dr. Fortuna works with community members from vulnerable populations, such as older adults with multiple chronic health conditions, caregivers of people with dementia, and people with disabilities and behavioral health challenges. Dr. Fortuna’s research has been funded by the National Institute for Mental Health and Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).


As a former Chair of the Patient Engagement National Advisory Council to PCORI, Dr. Fortuna had the opportunity to shape strategies that amplify patient voices in healthcare research, ensuring that outcomes are patient-centered and impactful. Currently, Dr. Fortuna serves on the National Advisory Board of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s Standing Committee on Primary Care and Achieving Whole Health. This role allows her to contribute to advancing comprehensive healthcare solutions that integrate physical, mental, and social health for vulnerable populations. Dr. Fortuna also serves as a Standing Committee Member of the American Psychiatric Association’s Smartphone App Advisory Panel, the World Health Organization’s Committee on Intervention Development for People with Psychosis, and the American Psychological Association’s Digital Health Panel. In these roles, she provides strategic input on evaluating, endorsing, and integrating digital health technologies into behavioral health care.


Dr. Fortuna has more than 130 peer-reviewed publications co-authored with patient partners in journals such as
Journal of the American Medical Association-Open Network and the Lancet. Her work has been featured in national media outlets such as Forbes, Newsweek, and Fox Business. Dr. Fortuna is a current Health and Aging Policy Fellow and an American Political Science Congressional Fellow. As a fellow, her efforts have focused on shaping primary care and technology policies that address the needs of populations who face early mortality and may not have the chance to live into older adulthood.

Grant Information

Title: Validating A Quantitative Measure to Promote Equitable Research Partnerships

*Major Goals: Brief description of project goals: To examine the validity and reliability of the QPCOR and determine its usefulness in measuring underlying constructs in a national sample of 300 people with a wide range of abilities. Specific aims: Aim 1. Examine psychometric properties (internal consistency, test-retest reliability, construct validity, correlative validity) of the Quality of Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Partnerships Instrument (QPCOR) and determine usefulness (predictive validity) in measuring the underlying constructs in a national sample of 300 people with a wide range of abilities.

Status of Support: Active
Project Number: SOE-2023C2-33411
Name of PD/PI: Karen Fortuna

Title: Behavioral Health Workforce Centers - Northern Borders Region

*Major Goals: Our overarching goal is to enhance behavioral healthcare delivery within NH’s rural counties by developing and implementing training and mentorship programs focused on building the skills and capacity of rural health care providers, paraprofessionals, non-clinical staff, and community members to care for individuals with BH care needs. Specific aims: Our initial Needs Assessment points us to 3 initial strategies which will be further refined in the planning phase of the program: • Strategy 1: Increase the capacity of the specialized rural BH workforce by building professional competence and confidence to meet the challenges that come with these roles. • Strategy 2: Relieve demand on the specialized rural BH workforce by building trained response capacity in other parts of the healthcare system, within other related sectors and within the para-professional workforce. • Strategy 3: Improve workforce attraction, resilience, and retention of staff serving Residents with Substance Misuse and BH challenges by building connectedness and community and to reduce isolation and negative pressures to leave these critical roles.

Status of Support: Active
Project Number: 21U2SRH43521
Name of PD/PI: Sally Kraft (Project Role: Co-investigator)

Title: Health and Aging Policy Fellowship

*Major Goals: Dr. Fortuna will work on health policy issues related to older adults either on Capitol Hill or in an executive branch agency of the United States government or at another appropriate placement agency with the approval of the HAPF Director.

Status of Support: Active
Project Number: Pincus-3998A
Name of PD/PI: Karen Fortuna (Project Role: PI)

Title: Dartmouth Learning Health System (LHS) Embedded Scientist Training (E-STaR) Center

Major Goals: We plan to further advance rural health and healthcare equity. Specific aims: Our specific aims are: 1) To accelerate the DH LHS through the recruitment and development of a diverse group of embedded LHS scientists equipped with the knowledge and skills to transform rural healthcare with a focus on the challenge of timely access to high-quality, equitable, person-centered care in rural settings; 2) To support embedded LHS scientists through tailored training, mentoring, and experiential learning and in the conduct of PCOR/CER projects designed to advance rural health equity; and 3) To disseminate knowledge gained within the Dartmouth LHS E-STaR Center throughout our broader communities and to evaluate the Center’s progress in advancing the DH LHS toward meeting the healthcare needs of northern New England.
Areas of potential overlap: For all pending grants, depending on the award start dates and effort requirements, Dr. Fortuna would re-evaluate her effort accordingly and reduce where possible to remove all commitment overlaps so that her effort never exceeds the allowable 12 cm at any given time.

Status of Support: Active
Project Number: (P30HS029771)
Name of PD/PI: Tosteson, A.N.A, Tosteson, T, Foster, T.C.

Courses Taught

Community-based Participatory Research

Mentoring Information

Please contact Dr. Fortuna regarding mentorship activities.

Biography

Karen L. Fortuna, PhD, LICSW - Dr. Fortuna is an Assistant Professor of Community and Family Medicine and Co-Founder of the Collaborative Design for Recovery and Health (https://collabrh.org). As an international volunteer collaborative of patients, community health workers, peer support specialists, caregivers, policymakers and payer systems, the Collaborative uses community-based participatory research to facilitate the development, evaluation, and implementation of tools to develop a workforce of lay providers with lived experience expertise to support similar others through peer support and evidence-based practices. Dr. Fortuna works with community members from vulnerable populations, such as older adults with multiple chronic health conditions, caregivers of people with dementia, and people with disabilities and behavioral health challenges. Dr. Fortuna’s research has been funded by the National Institute for Mental Health and Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).


As a former Chair of the Patient Engagement National Advisory Council to PCORI, Dr. Fortuna had the opportunity to shape strategies that amplify patient voices in healthcare research, ensuring that outcomes are patient-centered and impactful. Currently, Dr. Fortuna serves on the National Advisory Board of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s Standing Committee on Primary Care and Achieving Whole Health. This role allows her to contribute to advancing comprehensive healthcare solutions that integrate physical, mental, and social health for vulnerable populations. Dr. Fortuna also serves as a Standing Committee Member of the American Psychiatric Association’s Smartphone App Advisory Panel, the World Health Organization’s Committee on Intervention Development for People with Psychosis, and the American Psychological Association’s Digital Health Panel. In these roles, she provides strategic input on evaluating, endorsing, and integrating digital health technologies into behavioral health care.


Dr. Fortuna has more than 130 peer-reviewed publications co-authored with patient partners in journals such as
Journal of the American Medical Association-Open Network and the Lancet. Her work has been featured in national media outlets such as Forbes, Newsweek, and Fox Business. Dr. Fortuna is a current Health and Aging Policy Fellow and an American Political Science Congressional Fellow. As a fellow, her efforts have focused on shaping primary care and technology policies that address the needs of populations who face early mortality and may not have the chance to live into older adulthood.