Dr. Karen D’Alonzo is an Associate Professor in the Division of Nursing Science at Rutgers University School of Nursing. Using a lens of community based participatory research (CBPR), her research focuses on health promotion and cardiovascular (CV) risk reduction in diverse groups of women; acculturation stress, allostatic load and immigrant health; and community health worker (CHW)- facilitated interventions. In the nursing community, Dr. D’Alonzo is considered an expert in CBPR issues. Data from her NIH-funded studies have contributed to establishing community engagement and CBPR as priorities at Rutgers.
Using a Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) framework, Dr. D’Alonzo’s scholarship focuses on: 1) biobehavioral approaches to cardiovascular risk reduction among diverse groups of women and 2) the role of acculturation stress as a barrier to healthy lifestyles among immigrant women. Her NIH-funded research projects have made use of lay community health workers/promotoras de salud to deliver health promotion interventions in immigrant communities in New Jersey.