Trained in pediatrics and internal medicine, Dr. Karen Farst initially worked in northwest Arkansas as a private practice pediatrician, but volunteering as a medical provider with the Children’s Advocacy Center of Benton County profoundly shifted her focus.
“It was really through that experience, and working in a team-based setting and learning more about the medical response to child abuse, that I decided to leave private practice and complete an additional fellowship training in child abuse pediatrics,” she says.
After completing her fellowship, Farst joined the Team for Children at Risk, a joint effort between UAMS and Arkansas Children Hospital. And in 2009, the inaugural year the American Board of Pediatrics recognized child abuse pediatrics as a separate speciality, she became the first doctor in the state to be board-certified in child abuse pediatrics…