Dr. Kara Mckinley

Biography

Kara McKinley is an Assistant Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University, holding a Freeman Hrabowski Scholar position with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She completed her A.B. at Princeton University in 2010 and earned her Ph.D. from MIT in 2016. During her postdoctoral training at the University of California, San Francisco, she was recognized with the NIH K99 Pathway Independence Postdoctoral Fellowship and was a Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow from 2016 to 2021. Dr. McKinley's research focuses on the mechanisms of regeneration in the human uterine lining, known for its capacity for remodeling and repair throughout the menstrual cycle. Utilizing high-resolution live microscopy, Dr. McKinley studies the cellular and molecular processes that underpin this regenerative capacity and the potential pathologies that may arise from defects in these processes, including cancers and endometriosis. She has received multiple honors for her work, including the Harold M. Weintraub Award from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the Kaluza Prize from the American Society for Cell Biology, among others. Additionally, Dr. McKinley is a founder of the Leading Edge Symposium, aimed at promoting gender equity in biomedical research faculty roles.

Research Interests