Karen B. Redlener

Co-Founder, Children`s Health Fund & Ukraine Children’s Action Project

Karen Redlener has dedicated her career to enhancing the well-being of children facing extreme adversity, such as poverty, natural disasters, and war. Her journey began as a VISTA volunteer in rural east Arkansas, where she initiated child development and social services in a local health center and trained community staff to sustain these programs. In 1987, she co-founded the Children’s Health Fund (CHF) with her husband, pediatrician Irwin Redlener, and singer-songwriter Paul Simon. Karen actively contributed to shaping and implementing CHF’s mission to offer comprehensive health care for impoverished children. Notably, she played a pivotal role in designing CHF’s renowned mobile pediatric clinic, serving New York`s homeless pediatric population. This prototype led to over 50 CHF mobile clinics operating in under-resourced urban and rural areas across the U.S. Karen`s significant contribution includes leading CHF’s Healthy and Ready to Learn (HRL) program, ensuring that health conditions don`t hinder learning for children facing adversity. Her innovative approach to integrating education and health care has had a profound impact in New York City and beyond. From 1990 to 2016, alongside her roles at CHF, Karen served as the executive director of the NY Flagship Program (Bronx Health Collective) at Montefiore Health System. From 2015 to 2023, she played a crucial role as a member of the NYC Board of Health, guiding the agency through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, Karen, alongside her husband, co-founded the Ukraine Children’s Action Project, a non-profit addressing the urgent educational and mental health needs of displaced and traumatized Ukrainian children.