Karen S. Ingersoll PhD

Karen Ingersoll, PhD, is a native of New Orleans, LA. She graduated from Louisiana State University at the age of 20, majoring in psychology. She earned her master’s degree in clinical and counseling psychology from Southern Methodist University, followed by her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Virginia. She spent the early part of her career completing a postdoctoral fellowship in health psychology and addiction medicine at the Medical College of Virginia. She then spent over a decade as a faculty member at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Dr. Ingersoll joined UVA’s Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences in 2006. She specializes in clinical health psychology, using her skills for patient care in the Ryan White Clinic and the Behavioral Medicine Center. She is an internationally recognized expert on motivational interviewing and conducts summer research on this counseling style in Limpopo, South Africa. She is the training director for the Center for Behavioral Health and Technology, which uses technologies like the Internet and mobile phones to deliver health interventions for patients. In addition, she develops psychological interventions to help people with HIV live longer and healthier and to help women reduce the risks of alcohol-exposed pregnancy.