Kara Odom Walker, M.D., M.P.H.

Pilot Investigator

Pilot Studies
"The Safety Net in South Los Angeles: Assessing Unmet Community Needs After Hospital Closure" (2008-2009)

Address
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
911 Broxton Ave, 3rd Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90024

Phone
(310) 794-2297

Fax
(310) 794-3288

Email
kodom@mednet.ucla.edu

Biography
Dr. Kara Odom, a family physician in the UCLA RWJF Clinical Scholar from July 2007-June 2009, received her medical degree in 2004 from Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, and a Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, in 2003. Dr. Odom has publications in the Journal of the Student National Medical Association, the Journal of the National Medical Association, Academic Medicine, and the Journal of Minority Medical Students.

Dr. Odom is interested in the impact of access to care over a patient’s life course and has a particular interest in the health of vulnerable older adults. Her CHIME pilot study involves a survey of residents of South Los Angeles in order to understand the effect of the closure of Martin Luther King Jr. - Harbor Hospital (MLK-Harbor) and emergency department. This pilot funding will augment her Clinical Scholars fellowship funding and allow her to adequately sample older residents of this area who may be most vulnerable to these changes in access.

Dr. Odom's professional goals are to impact the health of individual patients, underserved populations, and the health policy of the nation and have emanated from her experiences in the fields of family medicine, physician workforce diversity, and leadership in minority health and health policy. Her research and clinical interests include studying the interaction of insurance status of minority patients and their access to healthcare and to minority providers, and her research and clinical experiences have led her to realize that innovative solutions require creative collaboration and integration of various perspectives and expertise. Dr. Odom feels that, combined with her leadership skills, she is on a trajectory to becoming a physician who helps to reorder priorities and re-engineer poor systems of healthcare.