Bio

Dr. Karen Bauer is a board certified in both general pediatrics as well as pediatric hospital medicine. She attended medical school at the University of Chicago-Pritzker School of Medicine, serving as her senior class president and graduated with AOA honors in 2009. She completed her pediatric residency at Stanford University in 2012 and was selected to stay for an additional year as a Chief Resident year through 2013.

After her Chief Resident year, she began working at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford (LPCHS), her work home since 2013, as a community pediatric hospitalist for Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF). She works in three practice areas -- the newborn nursery, the intermediate care nursery, and the general pediatric acute care unit. She currently serves as the Department Chair of her pediatric hospitalist team, composed of 12 physicians. In addition to her clinical work, she serves as an Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor in Pediatrics at Stanford School of Medicine.

Beyond her work as a pediatrician and pediatric hospitalist, she serves as the PAMF Associate Medical Director of Peer Support, helping physicians coping with traumatic events. And, she currently serves as a Member-at-Large of the LPCHS Medical Executive Committee and will begin her term as Vice-President of the Medical Staff in September 2026. She has also worked on a variety of projects for LPCHS related to physician and staff wellbeing, one of which is being published in the New England Journal Medicine Catalyst.

She also previously served on the Board of Directors for the San Francisco Firefighter’s Cancer Prevention Foundation, which was instrumental in changing consumer laws to remove toxic chemical flame retardants from our household furniture (e.g., mattresses). She continues to serve as a volunteer consultant for this foundation.

Clinical Focus

  • Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine
  • General Pediatrics
  • Pediatric Hospital Medicine

Honors & Awards

  • LPCH Medical Staff Impact Award, LPCH at Stanford (2025)
  • LPCH Dahlia Award, LPCH at Stanford (2024)

Professional Education

  • Board Certification: American Board of Pediatrics, Pediatric Hospital Medicine (2019)
  • Board Certification: American Board of Pediatrics, Pediatrics (2012)
  • Residency: Stanford Health Care at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital (2009) CA
  • Internship: Stanford Health Care at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital (2009) CA
  • Medical Education, The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, IL (2005)

Contact

  • Clinical (Primary)  Palo Alto Medical Foundation Pediatrics 795 El Camino Real 1st Fl Palo Alto, CA 94301 (650) 853-6051 (fax)

Additional Clinical Info

All Publications

  • Transforming the Patient Grievance Review Process by Addressing Both Patient and Physician Well-Being. NEJM catalyst innovations in care delivery Bauer, K., Aldorfer, B., Baker, J., Lee, G. 2026; 7 (9): CAT250482

    Abstract

    Patient grievances are an inevitable part of health care delivery, yet existing review processes do not focus on the unforeseen harms that grievances can have on the health care team. At a large academic children's hospital, a human-centered approach was used to redesign the grievance review process. Through listening sessions with frontline physicians and the formation of a multidisciplinary work group, the authors developed and implemented a novel approach to responding to patient concerns related to physician care, while also supporting the physicians. The redesigned process focused on communication and process, which over time evolved to approaches that were human-centered and systems-focused. Postimplementation physician feedback demonstrated an improved experience with the revised grievance review process, a marked improvement in their understanding of the process, and a reduction in feelings of being unsupported. The feedback also highlighted the importance of sharing available wellness resources with the hospital's physicians. This human-centered redesign preserved accountability to patients while creating a more just culture for physicians. The authors' experience suggests that patient grievance processes can and should still serve as opportunities for learning, rather than occasions for blame that could sow harm; the authors offer a replicable framework for institutions seeking to support both patients and the physicians who care for them.

    View details for DOI 10.1056/CAT.25.0482

    View details for PubMedID 42615594

  • New-onset OCD and juvenile enthesitis related arthritis after COVID-19 (Three Cases). Developmental neuroscience Saini, T., Ma, M., Sandberg, J., Farhadian, B., Manko, C., Xie, Y., Madan, J., Bauer, K., Tran, P., Frankovich, J. 2025: 1-29

    Abstract

    Introduction Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental health disorder characterized by obsessions and compulsions. There is a mounting body of evidence suggesting a link between OCD and inflammation. Neuropsychiatric deteriorations have been reported to follow COVID-19 infections, including OCD. Additionally, symptomatic arthritis has also been reported following COVID-19 infection. We aim to describe post-COVID-19 clinical deteriorations presenting to our multi-discplinary immune behavioral health clinic. Methods 151 pre-screened patients were evaluated in our clinic between March 1, 2020 and August 1, 2024. We systematically searched charts for infection with SARS-CoV-2 and found three cases of confirmed COVID-19 infection that preceded an abrupt neuropsychiatric deterioration (in the absence of other detected infections). Per our clinic's latest protocol, all patients underwent a full rheumatology and arthritis evaluation (regardless of joint complaints) including ultrasound imaging which were used to objectively assess for effusions, synovitis, and capsulitis. Results Two of the three patients met criteria for a PANS diagnosis. All three patients had new-onset OCD or re-escalation of OCD with new obsessions/compulsions/rituals post-COVID-19 and all three had imaging findings of effusions +/- synovitis +/- capsulitis despite not having significant complaints of joint pain. Joint pain complaints evolved after psychiatric symptoms improved (because the capacity of the patient to articulate joint pain improved when they were less overwhelmed by intrusive thoughts). Immunomodulatory treatment began with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and was escalated to disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) in the two patients with synovitis +/- capsulitis. All three patients eventually returned to baseline neuropsychiatric health (minimal-to-no OCD and resolution of intense anxiety and mood instability) and also had improvement in arthritic findings after introduction of NSAID +/- DMARDs. Conclusion Infections may result in systemic immune activation leading to inflammation. Thus, when patients have an acute neuropsychiatric deterioration (hypothesized to have been triggered by an infection), the situation may warrant evaluation for inflammation in other more accessible sites (e.g. joints). Use of this evidence of inflammation (as a sign of immune activation) is helpful since it is difficult to assess for brain inflammation, as clinical brain imaging has poor sensitivity for inflammation and biopsy of the striatum (and other areas involved in OCD) is difficult and limited by risk. In our cases, early joint imaging not only helped confirm signs of systemic inflammation in the setting of neuropsychiatric symptoms, it also allowed for earlier initiation of immunomodulatory treatment.

    View details for DOI 10.1159/000545137

    View details for PubMedID 40174578