Karen Watson

Co-Chief Executive Officer, Kinetic Leaders | New York, NY

Karen Watson is a communications strategist who has long focused on addressing behavior change in order to improve nutrition-related impact of diseases in vulnerable populations. Working with the White House and the Partnership for a Healthier America, she initiated, designed, and executed the Drink Up! public health campaign to promote drinking water to address obesity, as part of Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative. The national campaign successfully created a lasting impact on awareness of drinking water to improve health in the United States. She is also an honorary visiting researcher at Imperial College London’s Centre for Health Economics and Policy Innovation, where she is the lead presenter and designer of a workshop for policymakers and other stakeholders on creating demand for healthier behaviors in populations, by understanding how advertising and political operatives employ commonly used research and execution tactics to change perception, and impact the decisions people make in their daily lives. Working with HEC business school in France, she also contributed to the European Union funded Science and Technology in Childhood Obesity Policy (STOP), 5-year project to address childhood obesity.