Karen Leigh Matthews, M.D.

Karen Matthews is an assistant professor of radiology at the Uniformed Services University, Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. She is a staff radiologist at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and a commander in the U.S. Navy.

Matthews also works at the Defense Health Agency (DHA) as the branch chief of Health Information Exchange (HIE). In this position, she oversees the development and implementation of a sustainable HIE business plan for the Military Health System (MHS). She has worked with the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (PDASD), Health Affairs on the Health Benefits Working Group in support of the Presidential Commission for Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization. Additionally, she assisted and traveled with the PDASD and the DHA Director, coordinating meetings and site visits in support of the reorganization of the MHS to include the stand-up of the DHA and the implementation of the Enhanced Multi-Service Markets.

Matthews has received the Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal while on active duty.

She earned her MPH and MBA from Johns Hopkins University and her MD from Loma Linda University. She completed her internship at Maine Medical Center, her preventive medicine residency at Johns Hopkins University, and her radiology residency at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth. She also completed an MRI fellowship with Dr. Stephen Pomeranz at Proscan Imaging in Cincinnati, Ohio.