Karen Secore, MS, APRN CNRN

Karen Secore, MS, APRN CNRN, is the Epilepsy Nurse Navigator for the Cottage Epilepsy Center at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. Karen brings nearly four decades of nursing experience to her role and is accredited by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners and the American Board of Neuroscience Nurses.

Karen earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from Carlow College in Pittsburgh and her Master of Science in Nursing – Family Nurse Practitioner degree from the University of New Hampshire. She is the recipient of regional and national nursing awards including the Nursing Spectrum Nurse Excellence Award, the Deborah Miller Advanced Practice Award and the Rebecca Goldberg Kaufman AES Clinical Award in Ethical Neuropsychiatry from the American Epilepsy Society. She has participated on various committees of the American Epilepsy Society including Patient Safety in the Epilepsy Monitoring Units and the Epilepsy Practice Committee.

In her role at the Cottage Epilepsy Center, Karen performs comprehensive neurological exams and assessments, participates in ongoing patient evaluations, assessments and coordination of treatment plans in collaboration with the Neuroscience physicians. She organized an epilepsy support group for the Santa Barbara regional community starting in 2020 to the present. In addition, she has presented at more than 50 regional and national conferences, participated in 19 clinical research studies and served as an author of 28 publications.