Rate My Professor Karen Saban

Dr. Saban's program of research examines the biobehavioral mechanisms of stress, resilience, inflammation, epigenetics, and social determinants of health impacting cardiometabolic outcomes, with a focus on cardiovascular, neurology, and epigenetics, particularly health disparities in African American women. She has secured over $15 million in extramural funding from the NIH, VA, Department of Defense, PCORI, and foundations, including as Lead MPI on NIH/NIA R01 (2023-2028) studying a race-based stress reduction intervention on well-being, inflammation, and DNA methylation in Black women at risk for cardiometabolic disease. A Fellow of the American Heart Association (FAHA) and American Academy of Nursing (FAAN), she was inducted into Sigma Theta Tau International’s Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame in 2025—the first from Loyola Nursing—and received the 2023 Sage Award for mentorship. Widely published in leading journals, notable works include "Meditation and cardiovascular risk reduction: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association" (2017) and "Poststroke fatigue: emerging evidence and approaches to management: a scientific statement for healthcare professionals from the American Heart Association" (2017). She mentors students and early-career investigators, facilitating NIH K and TL1 awards and expanding Loyola Nursing's research capacity.