Professor Karen Moritz

Professor Karen Moritz is internationally renowned for her work in understanding how early life perturbations contribute to an increased risk of developing cardiovascular, renal and metabolic disease in adulthood.

Her research has focused on determining how prenatal alcohol can result in “developmental programming” of disease. Her research has identified critical windows of susceptibility to alcohol, including the period around conception and prior to implantation.

In addition, her work has identified the placenta as playing a key role in the sex-specific offspring outcomes following maternal perturbations. Her research spans both preclinical and clinical domains. 

Professor Moritz maintains a strong commitment to teaching of undergraduate and higher degree students and was the recipient of the Excellence in Research Supervision Award in 2015.

She is the Deputy Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences (HMBS). 

Prior to this role, she was the inaugural Associate Dean (Research) for the HMBS Faculty, established in 2025, where she played a pivotal role supporting the Executive Dean and the Provost in the establishment of the new Faculty across a broad range of strategic and operational matters. She played an instrumental role in redesigning its research structures to promote stronger alignment, enhance collaboration and support long term sustainability.

Prior to joining HMBS, Karen held several senior positions at UQ, including serving as Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Medicine, where she led research strategy, capability development and engagement across its clinical and biomedical disciplines. She also served as Director of the Child Health Research Centre from 2016, overseeing multidisciplinary research programs dedicated to improving health outcomes for children and families.