Karen Gregory-Mercado, PHD, MPH, MCHES, NBC-HWC
Mentor-Trainee Program
Karen Gregory-Mercado earned her Doctorate in Nutritional Sciences and a Master’s in Public Health from the University of Arizona in 2004. Karen is also a Master Certified Health Educator, Certified Worksite Wellness Program Manager and an Intrinsic Certified Coach. After graduating, Karen worked as an ORISE fellow for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's WISEWOMAN Program through the Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention. During her time at the CDC, Karen re-affirmed her desire to be true to her academic goals and health education mission.
In 2006, Karen chose to put her skills to practice in the public sector. Her desire to design and implement health educational interventions led Karen to work with a large national health insurance company (Cigna) as a health and worksite wellness coach for six years. During this time, she successfully designed and implemented worksite wellness interventions, developed strategic partnerships, performed coaching and health educational activities that led to significant improvements in patient well-being, health outcomes and care cost reduction.
In recent times, Karen decided to return to her academic roots and share the valuable lessons and experiences learned in the field with the next generation of coaches. Karen is currently an Instructor of health coaching, ethics and cultural aspects of health, and US health care systems at Arizona State University for the School of Nutrition and Health Promotion and their Health Sciences Program. Karen is passionate in her commitment to guiding students through an outstanding educational experience that facilitates the path to creating the foundation of exceptional health and wellness coaches. When not teaching, you can find her polishing her culinary skills, taking a long walk, planning a trip, keeping up with her six year old daughter and teenager boys, learning golf with her husband, and going to San Diego much as possible.