Karen Lee, MSN, RN, CNRN is a California native who has spent the past four years as a critical care nurse in Maryland. In previous lives, she has sold toothbrushes and cigars, worked as a graphic designer, event coordinator, budget analyst, research assistant, and doula. In another lifetime, she also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer for three terms in Panama and the Philippines. She has an incurable form of wanderlust and has backpacked throughout Southeast Asia searching for purpose, human connection, and exotic cuisines while learning silat, philosophy, and how to order food in different languages.
Those unconventional experiences and years overseas—particularly feeling unprepared to help sick neighbors and friends in rural communities—inspired her to return to school and become a nurse. She earned her master’s degree as a Coverdell Fellow at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and enjoys mentoring and being a passionate advocate for her patients. As an Asian-American, she is proud to join emerging voices in the literary scene.
A selection from her debut work, On Nursing and Becoming, received an honorable mention in the 2025 CRAFT Memoir Excerpt and Essay Contest.
