Karen M. Black, MSIS

Evaluation Lead, DIRC Manager

Karen joined the California Diabetes Program in 2004, serving as the program’s Evaluation Lead and Manager of DIRC, the online Diabetes Information Resource Center.  As Evaluation Lead, Karen provides evaluation guidance to all program projects with a focus on utilizing the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) 6-step Framework for Program Evaluation in Public Health.  Karen was hired to take a leadership role in the development and maintenance of DIRC and the site was launched after only 11 months.  In her role as DIRC Manager, Karen administers all aspects of the website and takes pride in providing a superior level of customer service that helps facilitate partners’ use of the site.

Karen’s first career was in banking and as an executive with Bank of America, Union Bank, and Standard Chartered Bank. Karen graduated magna cum laude from California State University, Sacramento (CSUS) in 1998, receiving her B.A. in Psychology. Karen also earned a diploma in Computer Programming from MTI School of Business and Technology in 2001. Following receipt of her degree, Karen worked as a Research Analyst with the CSUS Business Services Group, Assistant Project Manager with tmd group (formerly known as The Marketing Department), and as an Evaluation Specialist with California Project LEAN. In 2008, Karen received an M.S. in Information Systems from the University of San Francisco.