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Dr Karen Patterson

Karen Patterson pictured in a white shirt, smiling against a grey wall

Dr Karen Patterson

Senior Lecturer in Respiratory Medicine
E: K.Patterson@bsms.ac.uk
T: +44 (0)1273 872700
Location: Room 2.07, Medical Teaching Building, BSMS, University of Sussex BN1 9PX

Other roles: Teaching Lead, Clinical and Experimental Medicine Department

ORCID ID is orcid.org/0000-0002-5596-6801

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Biography

Dr Karen Patterson earned her undergraduate degree in Psychology and General Science from the University of Oregon in the United States, followed by a Medical Degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry. She completed her internal medicine training at Boston Medical Center, and her respiratory and critical care training at the University of Chicago. After working as an Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, she moved to the UK to join the Brighton and Sussex Medical School in 2017.

As the Year 2 Lead and the Teaching Lead for the department of Clinical & Experimental Medicine, she is heavily invested in academic programme development. She also represents the medical school for University of Sussex's Open Research Group, promoting open research activities within the medical school and the university at large, and is actively involved with the Centre for Research on Kindness. In addition to these formal appointments, she leads an academic coaching service for undergraduate medical students and helps run courses around networking and work culture for the University of Sussex and University of Brighton.

Research

Karen's overarching research goal is to advance understanding around the pathobiology of sarcoidosis, and her research focuses on identifying key immune and lymphatic features which can modulate granulomatous inflammation. She has identified associations between cytokine pathways and regulatory lymphocyte function and poor disease outcomes. Currently, she utilises digital pathology and bio-imaging technologies to evaluate the interactions of granulomas and lymphatic networks. The human lymphatic system - with its miles of nearly invisible lymphatic tracks and hundreds of pea-sized lymph nodes - is more than just a conduit for cell transit and a conditioning platform for lymphocytes. Rather, it determines how the immune system responds to antigens (protein particles from microbes or cellular digestions), and has an important role in determining which immune responses are suppressed or augmented systemically.

Karen also is actively involved with sarcoidosis-focused clinical registry studies, including the multi-site SARCOVID study in the US which aims to identify short and long-term outcomes from (COVID and non-COVID) respiratory infections. In addition, she has niche interests in cardiac and fibrotic pulmonary sarcoidosis, writes about quality of life issues for patients with sarcoidosis, and was a co-author on the recent sarcoidosis management guidelines sponsored by the American and British Thoracic Societies.

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Teaching

Karen is co-theme director for respiratory medicine teaching, and lectures on a range of respiratory topics (in Module 103). She also teaches for the Academic Skills course (Year 1), leads Student Selected Components across several year 1 and 2 modules, supervises student research projects for the year 4 Individual Research Project (IRP), and teaches for the Postgraduate Certificate, Diploma and Masters in Internal Medicine course.

Beyond direct teaching and supervisory activities, she is an internal reviewer for various Module Exam Boards, serves as the on-site clinician for paper checking and standard setting for year 1 and 2 examinations, and is an active member of the admissions team. In 2021, she completed the Advanced Higher Education Senior Fellowship programme.

Selected publications

Patterson Karen C. , Miller Wallace T. , Hancock Wayne W. , Akimova Tatiana. FOXP3+ regulatory T cells are associated with the severity and prognosis of sarcoidosis, Frontiers in Immunology, 2023.
www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2023.1301991. DOI 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1301991

Khan S, Patterson K, Fidler KService evaluation: identification of gaps in choking prevention advice for children in the South Coast of England, UKFamily Medicine and Community Health 2023;11:e001966. doi: 10.1136/fmch-2022-001966

Chen, Edward S.a; Patterson, Karen C.b. Considerations and clinical management of infections in sarcoidosis. Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine 29(5):p 525-531, September 2023. | DOI: 10.1097/MCP.0000000000000986

Saketkoo, Lesley Anna,b,c,d; Russell, Anne-Mariee,f,g; Patterson, Karen C.h; Obi, Ogugua Ndilii; Drent, Marjoleinj,k,l. Sarcoidosis and frailty: recognizing factors that foster holistic resilience. Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine 29(5):p 501-511, September 2023. | DOI: 10.1097/MCP.0000000000000990

Miller, W, Patterson, K, Sood, S, Schmitt, J, Wani, A, Borden, R, Galperin-Aisenberg, M, Porteus, et al. (2023) A Validated Model for the Imaging Diagnosis of Cystic Lung Disease. Open Journal of Radiology, 13, 42-57. doi: 10.4236/ojrad.2023.131005.

Ali H. Dhanaliwala, Shweta Sood, Christina Olivias, Scott Simpson, Maya Galperin-Aisenberg, Drew Torigian, Beth Zigmund, Cheilonda R. Johnson, Karen Patterson, Wallace T. Miller,A CT Algorithm Can Elevate the Differential Diagnosis of Interstitial Lung Disease by Non-specialists to Equal That of Specialist Thoracic Radiologists,Academic Radiology, Volume 29, Supplement 2, 2022, Pages S181-S190, ISSN 1076-6332, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acra.2021.07.019.

Patterson Karen C., Rosenbach Misha, Bravo Paco E., Dubroff Jacob G. Stable Extent of Recurrently Active Cardiac and Cutaneous Sarcoidosis. Frontiers in Medicine, issue 8 2021. DOI=10.3389/fmed.2021.729229

Barrett, Thomas J, Patterson, Karen C, James, Timothy M and Kruger, Peter (2021) Impact of reduction of susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 on epidemic dynamics in four early-seeded metropolitan regions. Scientific Reports, 11 (1). a12213 1-11. ISSN 2045-232.

Chu J, Zang W, Vukmirovic M on behalf of the GRADS Investigators, et al. Gene coexpression networks reveal novel molecular endotypes in alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. Thorax 2021;76:134-143.

Thillai M, Atkins CP, Crawshaw A, et alBTS Clinical Statement on pulmonary sarcoidosis. Thorax 2021;76:4-20.

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