Adj. Karen Petersen

Karen Petersen is a South African paediatric nephrologist and clinician-researcher affiliated with Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital. Her scholarship centers on kidney disease in children, with emphasis on acute kidney injury, primary hyperoxaluria, and crescentic glomerulonephritis in resource-limited settings. Through guideline development and clinical reviews, she advances context-appropriate standards of care and early referral strategies to improve renal outcomes.

Her work also spans neonatal and paediatric infectious diseases, contributing to major surveillance collaborations examining RSV, Group B Streptococcus, COVID-19, and Staphylococcus aureus. By integrating clinical data with postmortem diagnostics, these studies clarify causes of child mortality in high-burden regions and inform prevention and infection-control policies.

Across her publications, a consistent focus emerges on improving child health in low- and middle-income contexts through pragmatic research, multidisciplinary collaboration, and translation of evidence into practice. The breadth of topics reflects expertise at the intersection of paediatric nephrology, neonatology, and infectious diseases.