Karen L. Herbst

Karen L. Herbst is Head of Research and Director of Diagnostic and Preventative Medicine at The Roxbury Institute's Tucson center, where she also directs the diagnostic side of the Advanced Lipedema Treatment program. According to the site, she is a board-certified endocrinologist. She holds MD and PhD degrees. Her PhD is in cell physiology from the University of Iowa. Her training also includes a Howard Hughes Fellowship at the University of Utah, a residency and combined research and clinical fellowship in metabolism, endocrinology and nutrition at the University of Washington, and a dermatology residency at UCSF followed by a dermatologic surgery fellowship. Her faculty posts have included Martin Luther King Drew Medical Center/UCLA, the VA San Diego Health Care System/UCSD and the University of Arizona, where she led the TREAT program on adipose tissue and metabolism. She describes a career spanning more than two decades.

In 2019 she led an NIH-sponsored conference on the standard of care for lipedema in the United States. In 2020 she was involved in introducing new ICD-10 codes at the CDC. She serves as Vice President of the Lipedema World Alliance and has given keynotes at the Lipedema World Congress in Rome in 2025 and at the Fat Disorders Research Society Conference and the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery Annual Meeting in 2024.

Her published work includes the 2023 book Liposculpture and Lipedema Surgery: A Guide for the Patient and Pearls for the Surgeon. Media coverage includes a 2023 Wall Street Journal feature and 2020 Los Angeles Times coverage of lipedema treatment. The site says she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Tucson Business in 2019 and has been named one of America's top physicians. Her stated philosophy is that care should address a patient's overall well-being as well as their physical condition.