Karen Cox, PhD, RN, FACHE, FAAN, a nationally recognized executive, educator, and health care leader has spent a distinguished career demonstrating visionary leadership dedicated to advancing the nursing profession, developing future leaders, and strengthening organizations that care for children and families.

Dr. Cox is currently the Interim Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer, Regional Operations, at Children's Mercy located in Kansas City. In this role, she supports strategic growth, operational excellence, and the continued expansion of Children's Mercy services across the region. Dr. Cox’s connection to Children's Mercy spans more than 30 years. During her previous tenure, she served in a variety of executive leadership roles, including Senior Vice President for Patient Care Services/Chief Nursing Officer and Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer. In 2003, as Chief Nursing Officer, she led Children's Mercy to achieve its first Magnet® designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, followed by six consecutive re-designations. Notably, Children’s Mercy was the first hospital in Missouri and only the second children’s hospital to earn nursing's highest recognition for excellence.

Dr. Cox is the former President of Chamberlain University, where she oversaw undergraduate and graduate nursing and health professions programs across 23 campuses and online learning platforms nationwide from 2018 - 2026. During her tenure, Chamberlain was one of only ten recipients to receive the American Nurses Foundation’s Reimagining Nursing Initiative grant, leading the development of the Practice Ready Specialty Focused® Nurse Education Model pilot program. She has also made significant contributions to the nursing profession on a national scale as a board member for The DAISY Foundation, the American Organization for Nursing Leadership Foundation for Nursing Leadership Research and Education, and the Martin Luther King Jr. community hospital in Los Angeles. Dr. Cox led the American Academy of Nursing as the organization’s 27th President.

Dr. Cox is an expert on the social determinants of health, specifically those that impact the health and well-being of children and their families and has contributed to numerous articles published in journals such as Modern Healthcare, American Journal of Nursing, Nursing Economics, Journal of Nursing Administration, and the Journal of Public Health Nursing. Dr. Cox is also an accomplished innovator. She established the American Association of Critical Care Nurses Clinical Scene Investigator Academy, which was designated as an Academy Edge Runner. This nurse-led model has markedly improved clinical outcomes and improved the fiscal health of the participating organizations by reducing patient falls, pressure ulcers, and length of stay across hospital settings.

Dr. Cox was named a Fellow in the Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellowship Program and is a Fellow in the American College of Health Care Executives. Recently, she received the DAISY Lifetime Achievement award from Chamberlain University. Dr. Cox was inducted as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing in 2005.