About
Karen L Florio, DO, MPH, is board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology and maternal fetal medicine. At Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, she helped champion the development of their cardio-obstetrics program. She also served as the Associate Program Director of the Fellowship Program for eight years. In 2023, she joined the University of Missouri as the vice chair of patient safety and quality for the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the director of labor and delivery.
She has also held many leadership roles in the public health realm, including being a member of the Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Board in Missouri for seven years, as well as the chair of the board for two years. She is currently a core board member of the Missouri Perinatal Quality Collaborative, where she served as the chair from 2022-2024. Her research interests are in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and cardio-obstetrics. She is currently the co-PI on a national NHLBI-funded study to evaluate heart disease in pregnancy called the HOPE Study.
Education & Training
Medical School
New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine
Residency
Obstetrics & Gynecology, Gynecology
- New York Methodist Hospital of Brooklyn
Fellowship
Maternal and Fetal Medicine
- University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Boards
Insurances
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Academic Information
Research Profile
Karen Florio, DO, is a co-principal investigator for the Heart Outcomes in Pregnancy Expectations (HOPE) Registry, a critical national effort to reduce maternal mortality attributable to heart disease. She guides state and national efforts to implement public health interventions which help pregnant women with cardiovascular disease. Dr. Florio’s career focus has been on improving quality of care and reducing disparities in care, which has earned her roles such as board member on the national Equitable Maternal Health Coalition of the March of Dimes. She developed the region’s first cardio-obstetrics clinic which has cared for more than 2,000 pregnant women with CV disease. In 2022, Dr. Florio was nominated to serve on the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology/Alliance for Innovation in Maternal Health (ACOG/AIM) board for the development of the Cardiac Conditions in Obstetric Care bundle. She has enhanced her skills as a clinical researcher by becoming the first non-cardiologist in the esteemed CV Outcomes Research Division as a clinical scholar. This knowledge has been useful in her role as an editorial board member for American Heart Journal Plus.
Dr. Florio received her MPH from George Washington University Milken School of Public Health in 2021 and her Certificate of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion from Cornell in 2023.
Research Interests
- Cardiac disease in pregnancy
- Quality improvement
- Hypertension in pregnancy
- Implementation science and biotechnology
Awards & Honors
- 2022 UMKC Quality Improvement Program (QIPS) Scholar
- 2021 selected for IHI cardiac bundle development
- 2021 First non-cardiac provider chosen for Mid-America Heart Institute Clinical Scholars Program
- 2020 Selected for the Alliance for Innovation in Maternal Health (AIM) Cardiac Bundle development
- 2020 Kansas City QVIC Quality Fellow
- 2017 Recognized by HER Magazine as spotlight provider
- 2015 CREOG Teacher of the Year UMKC
Publications
- Florio KL, Grodzinsky A.
Cardiovascular Indexes in the Era of Preeclampsia: Prevention or Long-Term Outcome Prediction?
J Am Coll Cardiol. 2022 Jan 4;79(1):63-65. doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2021.11.003. PMID: 34991790. - Florio KL.
Revisiting the Affordable Care Act Contraceptive Mandate: Is It the White Knight in Our Fight Against Maternal Mortality?
J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2021 Oct;30(10):1370-1371. doi: 10.1089/jwh.2021.0319. PMID: 34613835. - Florio KL, DeZorzi C, Williams EM, Swearingen K, Magalski A.
Cardiovascular Medications in Pregnancy.
Cardiol Clin. 2021 Feb;39(1):33-54. - Florio KL, Kao M, Johnson T, Tuttle H, Nelson L, White D, Patel N, Ramaeker D, Kendig S, Schmidt L, Grodzinsky A, Economy K.
Contraception for the cardiac patient: A cardiologist’s primer.
Curr Treat Op Card Med. 2021. - Williams EM, Daming T, Hostetter S, Florio KL, Grodzinsky A, Lee J, Magalski, Rader V, Schmidt L.
Maternal congenital aortic stenosis: successful management of pregnancy.
Cardiol Cardiovasc Med. 2020; 4(4): 414-417 - Sharma G, Zakaria S, Michos ED, Bhatt AB, Lundberg GP, Florio KL, Vaught AJ, Ouyang P, Mehta L.
Improving Cardiovascular Workforce Competencies in Cardio-Obstetrics: Current Challenges and Future Directions.
J Am Heart Assoc. 2020 Jun 16;9(12).