Dr. Kara Odom Walker chosen to run the state’s Department of Health and Social Services.

Dr. Kara Odom Walker, an honors graduate with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, has been chosen by Delaware governor-elect John Carney to run the state’s Department of Health and Social Services. Walker is currently deputy chief science officer at the non-profit Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), where she is responsible for managing a $1.6 million research budget.

“Kara has deep knowledge about how our health care system works and knows how important that access to quality, affordable health care is for all Delawareans,” Carney said in a news release.

Walker received her doctor of medicine degree from Jefferson Medical College and her master of public health degree from the Johns Hopkins University. She completed postgraduate training at the University of California, San Francisco, and served as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she conducted research on the impact of hospital closure on underserved minority populations.