Academic Credentials
  • M.P.H., Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology, University of Michigan, 2006
  • B.S., Biology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 2004

Kara Franke, MPH, is a Managing Scientist at Exponent with 20 years of experience in human health risk assessment. She brings expertise in epidemiology, exposure science, and risk assessment to complex questions involving chemical exposure and health outcomes.

Ms. Franke specializes in synthesizing multiple evidence streams, including epidemiological, exposure, and toxicological data. Her work includes systematic literature reviews, landscape analyses, historical exposure reconstruction, epidemiological and toxicological data analyses, study quality and reliability assessments, database development, data visualization, and scientific communication. She has expertise in performing systematic literature reviews in accordance with established frameworks, including problem formulation, protocol development, literature search and review, and study appraisal, and she routinely develops databases and data visualizations to communicate findings.

Ms. Franke has supported clients spanning multiple sectors including manufacturing, consumer products, food and beverage, industrial chemicals, and government. Her work has addressed regulatory compliance, disease causation, and hazard and exposure evaluations for substances such as asbestos, talc, benzene, ethylene oxide, dioxins, and micro- and nano-plastics. Her peer-reviewed publications include work on 1,3-butadiene, asbestos, caffeine, cannabidiol, and monosodium glutamate; she also presents regularly at scientific conferences.

Before joining Exponent, Ms. Franke was an Associate Director/Supervising Scientist with ToxStrategies LLC. Her background also includes occupational safety, training, and compliance. She earned an MPH in Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology from the University of Michigan School of Public Health and a BS in Biology from the University of Wisconsin.