Karen Blase

Karen Blase, PhD, is Co-Founder, Director, and Implementation Scientist with the Active Implementation Research Network (AIRN). Karen, together with Dean Fixsen, also was a Co-Founder of the National Implementation Research Network (NIRN) and formerly a Senior Scientist at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She served on the Pyramid Model Consortium Board of Directors as President-Elect and President of the Board. She also was a member of the Technical Assistance Center on Social Emotional Intervention for Young Children (TACSEI).

An overarching interest for the last two decades has been the development of strategies for effective implementation, scale-up, quality assurance and systems change using implementation science and The Active Implementation Frameworks across multiple domains (e.g., early childhood intervention and prevention, education, child welfare). In 2005, Karen co-authored the seminal study, Implementation Research: A Synthesis of the Literature. With Dean Fixsen and Melissa Van Dyke, Karen also co-authored the Book Authority’s Best Science Books for 2020, Implementation Practice and Science. Current interests include the application of implementation science to support scaling and quality assurance for The Pyramid Model, as well as scaling systems for effective voter registration and education and ensuring voting rights.