Karen Parko, MD, is a clinical professor of neurology at UCSF. She is a retired Commissioned Corps officer from the United States Public Health Service where she worked for 24 years within the Indian Health Service. Dr. Parko worked for ten years on the Navajo reservation where she established the reservation’s first neurology clinic and, after leaving the Navajo reservation, served as the chief clinical consultant in neurology for the Indian Health Services for an additional seven years. Dr. Parko’s work in global health has been on improving epilepsy care in disadvantaged populations by building sustainable local systems of care.

Dr. Parko is the chair of the International League Against Epilepsy-North America Global Health Task Force, co-chair of the American Epilepsy Society special interest group on Global Health, and in August of 2020 was elected as the North American council representative to the International League Against Epilepsy Global Advocacy Council.

Learn more about Dr. Parko here.