Karen Owens, MSN, RN, CRCST, CIS, CER, CHL, FCS, CQIA, is a seasoned health care leader with 39 years of nursing, management, and operational experience, including more than a decade in central sterile management and 5 years as a system director overseeing sterile processing across 11 hospitals.
Recognized nationally for her expertise, she blends clinical insight with lean methodologies to drive operational excellence, earning distinctions such as “Who’s Who in Infection Prevention” and guiding her teams to award‑winning performance.
Over the past 30 years, as infection outbreaks, rapid service expansion, and increasingly complex medical devices transformed the landscape, sterile processing rose to the challenge by standardizing, modernizing, and innovating to keep patients safe.