Portrait of Karen Robinson

Karen A. Robinson

Senior Advisor at the Equity Research and Innovation Center, Yale School of Medicine

A career path starting in the White House and navigating the worlds of Operative National Politics, Public Policy, Investment Banking, Loss Mitigation/Risk Management solutions and Academia, has resulted in the contrarian leadership of a group of subsidiaries that focus on the consequences of social economics, health care, and public policy.

Ms. Robinson’s professional path in healthcare started in 1976 as a Health System Agency (HSA) Certificate of Need reviewer in Newark, New Jersey. She participated in the implementation of the Medicaid waiver program in the City, and was designated co-bankruptcy trustee representative for the reorganization United Hospital. She was also appointed adjunct faculty at Columbia University School of Public Health (Program in Public Health Education – Noreen M. Clark, Ph.D – Director) developing and implementing education training programs for consumers and providers (CEU-credits) participating in the regional planning and review mandates.

In 1978 she was recruited to join the Health System Agency of Southeastern PA, located in Philadelphia, a newly formed organization under a Federal Court settlement.

From 1979 to 1986 Ms. Robinson held several White House, Congressional and local government staff positions.

In 1986 Ms. Robinson was recruited to participate in the start-up of the National Health Care Finance Division of Van Kampen Merritt, (a Xerox Financial Services Company), an investment banking firm. During her tenure she was manager of in excess of a billion dollars of health care related financings.

Starting her own firm in 1991, in the health care vertical, her focus has been the financing and management of behavioral health and drug and alcohol facilities. Her team has specialized in turn-arounds and M&A projects, and assisting with the industry transition from Fee for Service to Managed Care. They also secured residential and outpatient licenses for providers in a number of states.

Additional policy focus has been with Behavioral Health Medicaid carve-outs and commercial insurers designing co-occurring (Addiction and Behavioral Health) delivery systems domestically and internationally, working with the National Association of State Mental Health Programs and Aetna International.