Karen Tran

Investigator, BC Children's Hospital
Physician, Obstetrical Medicine, BC Women's Hospital & Health Centre

Academic Affiliations

Clinical Assistant Professor, General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia

Research Theme

Healthy Starts

Research Group

Pathways to Healthy Birth

Research Areas

Managed Care

Pregnancy

Telemonitoring

Affiliate Websites

Centre for Health Evaluation & Outcome Sciences
UBC Division of General Internal Medicine

Contact

karen.tran@cw.bc.ca

Mailing Address

4500 Oak Street
Vancouver, British Columbia
V6H 3N1

Overview: Preeclampsia and high blood pressure (BP) in pregnancy affects 1 in 10 pregnancies. Currently, experts recommend that BPs are measured and medications are given based on BP readings in the maternity care-providers' offices. This may be inaccurate because pregnant women often have a "white–coat effect," experiencing a higher BP reading in the office. Many physicians already use home BP monitoring in pregnant women to get a more "accurate" BP reading. The problem with this approach is no guidelines for properly measuring BP at home exist in pregnancy. The goal of our research is to understand how physicians use HBPM and the experiences of home monitoring in pregnant women.
Research: Systematic review and meta-analysis of home blood pressure monitoring in pregnancy
Systematic review and meta-analysis of home blood pressure monitoring in pregnancy
We completed a systematic review and meta-analysis to understand how home blood pressure monitoring was used in pregnant women. We noted that wide variation in patterns of practice exist on how physicians prescribe home BP monitoring in pregnancy.
Validation of BpTRU, an automated blood pressure monitor, in pregnancy
BpTRU is a common automated BP monitor used in non-pregnant adults, however, little information exists on whether this is an accurate BP device in pregnancy. We conducted a validation study and found that BpTRU is not validated to be used in pregnancy or in women with preeclampsia.

Grants

UBC GIM CALI Physicians Coordinating Liaison Committee

Honours & Awards

Honour Roll for Clinical Teaching Excellence Award, University of British Columbia Department of Medicine. (June 2018, 2019)
Top Poster at North America Society of Obstetrical Medicine Conference (October 30, 2016)
Top Poster at Canadian Hypertension Congress (October 21, 2016)
Canadian Society of Internal Medicine Research and Education Fund (October 2015)

Research Group Members

Niamh Doran, Research Assistant
Alia Izquierdo, Research Coordinator
Harnoor Sandhu, INSPIRE TRAINEE

Stories See all

Congratulations CIHR Spring 2023 Project Grant recipients

Congratulations to the BC Children's Hospital Research Institute (BCCHR) and Women’s Health Research Institute (WHRI) investigators and their teams who were awarded funding through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Spring 2023 Project Grant competition. Our research community received around $8 million in new research grants as principal investigators or co-investigators.

Continue reading Congratulations CIHR Spring 2023 Project Grant recipients

Pneumonia and malaria: Innovations tackle leading threats to children under five

Globally, pneumonia and malaria are among the leading causes of death for children under five, due in part to health-care resource gaps in low- and middle-income countries. New BCCHR investigator and pediatric infectious diseases expert Dr. Michael T. Hawkes is developing diagnostic and treatment tools to address these shortages.

Continue reading Pneumonia and malaria: Innovations tackle leading threats to children under five

Pediatric Sepsis Data Challenge invites researchers to help develop a model to save lives

To help prevent more children from dying of sepsis, the Institute for Global Health is inviting researchers to help design an open-source algorithm that predicts in-hospital mortality in low- and middle-income countries.

Continue reading Pediatric Sepsis Data Challenge invites researchers to help develop a model to save lives

Congratulations CIHR Spring 2024 Project Grant recipients

Congratulations to the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute (BCCHR) and Women’s Health Research Institute (WHRI) investigators and their teams who were awarded $5 million in funding through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Spring 2024 Project Grant competition.

Continue reading Congratulations CIHR Spring 2024 Project Grant recipients

Collaboration was key to discovery about newborn immunity

Investigators at the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute have made a finding that could eventually lead to therapeutic interventions for sepsis, lung disease, and other complications in premature newborns.

Continue reading Collaboration was key to discovery about newborn immunity

New research tools can shed light on an understudied organ essential to our lives

The placenta is essential to a healthy start in life. Despite its importance, little is known about it, including why it might not develop properly, which can lead to long-term health issues. Dr. Alexander Beristain’s lab is investigating two state-of-the-art stem cell-based tools that model a human placenta to find answers that can positively impact children’s health.

Continue reading New research tools can shed light on an understudied organ essential to our lives

Donate to Research

We believe there’s nothing we can’t do with your support. It can take years to turn scientific breakthrough into new interventions and treatments. Funding helps speed the pace of change. When given the resources, we can bring transformative therapies – and hope – out of the laboratory and into the clinic to save and improve children’s lives.

Give Now