Karen R. Armbrust, MD, PhD
Karen R. Armbrust, MD, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Neurosciences at the University of Minnesota and a staff physician at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System. She divides her clinical time between uveitis practice at the University of Minnesota, where she is Co-Director of the Pediatric Uveitis Program at MN Lions Children’s Eye Clinic, and uveitis/medical retina practice at the Minneapolis VA.
Dr. Armbrust completed a double major in biology and mathematics at the University of Minnesota – Morris. In the University of Minnesota Combined MD/PhD program, she developed and characterized a mouse model of spinocerebellar ataxia type 5, a genetic neurodegenerative disease. She went on to complete ophthalmology residency training at the University of Minnesota and a combined uveitis and ocular immunology / medical retina fellowship at the National Eye Institute.
Since 2016 Dr. Armbrust has trained ophthalmology residents at the Minneapolis VA and the University of Minnesota. She serves on the Academic Excellence Council at the Minneapolis VA and the American Academy of Ophthalmology Basic and Clinical Science Course (BCSC) Committee for Section 9: Intraocular Inflammation and Uveitis.
Dr. Armbrust received a Research to Prevent Blindness / American Academy of Ophthalmology grant to investigate patient factors and treatments in scleritis patients in the American Academy of Ophthalmology IRIS® Registry (Intelligent Research in Sight) database. She also has several active eye research projects at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System, where she is the Research Director for the Department of Ophthalmology. She has mentored more than 10 residents and medical students in ophthalmic research since starting her faculty appointment. She serves on the Minneapolis VA Health Care System Institutional Review Board (IRB).