Karen Parker

Karen Parker is the Truong-Tan Broadcom Endowed Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, where she holds several departmental leadership positions. These include serving as Chair of the Major Laboratories Steering Committee and as Associate Chair for Research Strategy and Oversight. She also has a courtesy faculty appointment in Stanford’s Department of Comparative Medicine, and is an affiliate scientist at the California National Primate Research Center.

At Stanford, Parker directs the Social Neurosciences Research Program. They seek to advance understanding of the biological basis of social functioning across a range of species and to translate these fundamental insights to drive diagnostic and treatment advances for patients with social impairment. Their core research interests include: oxytocin and vasopressin signaling pathways, development of valid animal models for streamlined translation and clinical impact, and biomarker discovery and therapeutic testing in people on the autism spectrum.

Parker recently wrote an invited narrative review charting her scientific journey and detailing her personal and professional experiences in the field of social neuroscience. You can read it here.