Profiles

Karen R. Jacobson, MD, MPH

Associate Professor, Epidemiology - Boston University School of Public Health

(617) 414-5213
karen.jacobson@bmc.org
Talbot
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Biography

Dr. Karen Jacobson is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Section of Infectious Diseases, Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health. Dr. Jacobson’s research focuses on the epidemiology of tuberculosis, including identification of biological and social determinants of and risk factors for tuberculosis infection and disease (including drug resistant tuberculosis) and approaches for improving tuberculosis outcomes in resource-limited settings. Dr. Jacobson is the Medical Director of the Boston Medical Center Tuberculosis Clinic and has established a highly productive collaboration with researchers in Cape Town, South Africa. Her work has particular emphasis in understanding how substance use impacts on tuberculosis transmission and response to therapy.

Other Positions

  • Associate Professor, Medicine - Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
  • Member, Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research - Boston University

Education

  • Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, MD Field of Study: Medicine
  • Harvard School of Public Health, MPH Field of Study: Clinical Evaluation/Research
  • Yale University, BS Field of Study: Biology

Websites

Publications

  • Published on 5/6/2025

    Marin MG, Quinones-Olvera N, Wippel C, Behruznia M, Jeffrey BM, Harris M, Mann BC, Rosenthal A, Jacobson KR, Warren RM, Li H, Meehan CJ, Farhat MR. Pitfalls of bacterial pan-genome analysis approaches: a case study of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and two less clonal bacterial species. Bioinformatics. 2025 May 06; 41(5). PMID: 40341387.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 4/20/2025

    Thomson SJ, Mistry R, Bayly H, Overbeck V, Sagar M, Schechter-Perkins EM, White LF, Jacobson KR, Bouton TC. Barriers to recruitment of an observational SARS-CoV-2 emergency department cohort at Boston Medical Center. BMC Emerg Med. 2025 Apr 20; 25(1):68. PMID: 40254607.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 3/27/2025

    Niemand N, Rooney JA, Malatesta S, Rawoot N, Bouton TC, Ragan EJ, Carney T, White LF, Farhat M, Horsburgh CR, Myers B, Warren RM, Jacobson KR. Contamination rates in serially sampled sputum specimens obtained during tuberculosis treatment to capture culture conversion. medRxiv. 2025 Mar 27. PMID: 40196277.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 3/12/2025

    Shapiro AN, Moultrie H, Jacobson KR, Bor J, da Silva P, Scott L, Jenkins HE. The risk of rifampicin-resistant TB after drug-susceptible TB treatment. IJTLD Open. 2025 Mar; 2(3):173-175. PMID: 40092522.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 3/11/2025

    Wijk M, Wasmann RE, Jacobson KR, Svensson EM, Denti P. A Pragmatic Approach to Handling Censored Data Below the Lower Limit of Quantification in Pharmacokinetic Modeling. CPT Pharmacometrics Syst Pharmacol. 2025 Mar 11. PMID: 40067154.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 2/20/2025

    Tzelios CA, Malatesta S, Carney T, White LF, Weber SE, Thomson S, Theron D, Myers B, Parry CDH, Warren RM, Horsburgh CR, Farhat MR, Jacobson KR. Patient Determinants and Effects on Adherence of Adverse Drug Reactions to Tuberculosis Treatment: A Prospective Cohort Analysis. Clin Infect Dis. 2025 Feb 20. PMID: 39973802.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 12/4/2024

    Mann BC, Loubser J, Omar S, Glanz C, Ektefaie Y, Jacobson KR, Warren RM, Farhat MR. Systematic review and meta-analysis of protocols and yield of direct from sputum sequencing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. bioRxiv. 2024 Dec 04. PMID: 39677639.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 11/26/2024

    Malatesta S, Jacobson KR, Carney T, Kolaczyk ED, Gile KJ, White LF. Inferring bivariate associations with continuous data from studies using respondent-driven sampling. J R Stat Soc Ser C Appl Stat. 2025 Mar; 74(2):429-446. PMID: 40092669.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 11/1/2024

    Shapiro AN, Scott L, Moultrie H, Jacobson KR, Bor J, Conradie F, da Silva P, Mlisana K, Jenkins HE, Stevens WS. Risk factors for and timing of presumptive recurrent TB. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2024 Nov 01; 28(11):527-533. PMID: 39468024.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 10/31/2024

    Murnane PM, Afshar M, Chamie G, Cook RL, Ferguson T, Haque LY, Jacobson KR, Justice AC, Kim TW, Khalili M, Krupitsky E, McGinnis KA, Molina P, Muyindike WR, Myers B, Richards VL, So-Armah K, Stewart S, Sulkowski MS, Tien PC, Hahn JA. Using Phosphatidylethanol as an Adjunct to Self-Reported Alcohol Use Improves Identification of Liver Fibrosis Risk. Am J Gastroenterol. 2024 Oct 31. PMID: 39480054.

     Read At: PubMed

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