Karen Bowers

Karen.Bowers@uon.edu.au

BA Health Science (Nutrition & Dietetics), MA Commerce, MA Business Law, JD

Research Interests

Public Health Law, Torts Law, Medical Negligence and Mediation

Research Overview

I stared my career as an accredited practising dietitian way back in 2001 and I have over 10 years’ experience providing expert nutrition advice to patients and health professionals in both the clinical and public health setting. Over time, I realised that my reach would never be sufficient to have a major impact on population level outcomes. This was one of the main reasons I decided to pursue a law degree as I was interested in advocating for legislative change.

I was admitted as a solicitor in NSW in April 2015 and I hold a current unrestricted practising certificate. I have over 5 years legal experience managing health liability claims on behalf of the NSW government and I have demonstrated my ability to convey accurate and substantiated medico-legal advice.

I am committed to further study at this point in my career as I believe it will extend my reach and effectiveness in providing better health outcomes for the wider community from my research findings.

PhD research topic

I have witnessed firsthand the devastating impact that medical negligence cases have on have on patients, their families, and the health professionals involved, as well as the wider community. For this reason, I have decided to focus my research on alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and the best interest of claimants in medical negligence matters in NSW. I believe this topic is worth investigating to provide a verifiable underpinning for future legislative developments in this area of law, particularly given the paucity of published peer-review research currently available.