Karen Edison, M.D.

Karen Edison, MD, is a strong advocate for patient-centered health care having cared for rural, underserved patients with skin disease using teledermatology throughout Missouri from 1995 to 2019. She cared for patients at the University of Missouri Health Care for 30 years and was Chair of the Department of Dermatology for 16 years. From 1999 to 2001, she served as RWJ Health Policy Fellow in the U.S. Senate where she was instrumental in the legislative expansion of Medicare reimbursement for telemedicine services.

Through her leadership at the Missouri Center for Health Policy and the Missouri Telehealth Network, Dr. Edison has helped lead work with the State on telemedicine policy, Medicaid data analysis, and has led efforts funded by regional foundations to improve health equity and foster health literacy for all Missourians. She served as clinical lead for Missouri’s highly successful Regional Extension Center and was for many years an inaugural member of the Executive Committee of the Missouri Health Connection, Missouri’s state-designated health information organization and the Missouri Women’s Health Council. She has served on the boards for the American Telemedicine Association and the Center for Telehealth & eHealth Law. As Senior Medical Director of the award-winning Show-Me ECHO program, she has helped lead and grow the program from 2 ECHO programs in 2014 to more than 40 ECHO programs today.