Karen Baar

I’m a journalist specializing in health, and the author of For My Next Act... Women Scripting Life After Fifty (Rodale, 2004). In addition, I’m the co-author of American Indian Healing Arts (Bantam Books, 1999), The Circadian Prescription (Putnam/Penguin, 2000) and Women and Pain: Why It Hurts and What You Can Do (Hyperion, January 2002). I’ve also written articles on health, fitness, nutrition and alternative medicine for a variety of publications, including The New York Times, Health, Cooking Light, Family Circle, Self, Good Housekeeping, Natural Health, Parenting, Yale Medicine and Columbia Public Health.

My passion for women's health dates back to the feminist movement of the 1970s, when I was part of a group that launched the Somerville Women's Health Project, a storefront clinic for women and children near Cambridge, Massachusetts. A former health care activist, educator and administrator, I hold a B.A. from New York University and a Masters in Public Health degree from the Yale University School of Medicine. I have two daughters, ages 19 and 27, and I live in Woodbridge, Connecticut.