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Dr. Karen Jerome-Zapadka, MD, DABOM, MHP
Trajectory Health Partners Founder & Medical Director
From the moment her patient with diabetes, advanced fatty liver and incurable liver cancer asked her, “Did I eat myself to death?” Dr. Jerome-Zapadka began devoting the last decade to finding the answer for her patient. While already a Board-Certified Gastroenterologist from the University of Pittsburgh with a special interest in steatotic (fatty) liver, her journey took her down the path of Board Certification in Obesity Medicine (DABOM) and certification as a Metabolic Health Practitioner (MHP) through the Society of Metabolic Health Practitioners, where she is a founding member and sits on the Resources committee. Much of her recent education was provided by the Nutrition Network, a global leader in nutrition education.
A partner at Valley Gastroenterology Associates from 2000-2024, Dr. Jerome-Zapadka also served as the President of the Board from 2021-2024. There she founded and served as the Medical Director of the VGA Center for Obesity Medicine since 2016. With the transition in 2019 to Therapeutic Carbohydrate Reduction, the program thrived and to date, has documented dozens of patients with complete remission of their steatotic (fatty) liver, a potentially devastating disease. She remains on staff at VGA but is stepping down as president and partner, in part to allow more time to devote to developing Trajectory Health Partners (THP).
Dr. Jerome-Zapadka serves on the Board of Directors for NASH kNOWledge, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness of the steatotic (fatty) liver pandemic, with an emphasis on the pediatric population. She is co-chair of the Fatty Liver Coalition of the Community Liver Alliance in Pittsburgh, and is aligned with The Fatty Liver Alliance in Toronto Canada, all providing education to patients and health care providers, and advocating for patients with this disease.
As founder and co-chair of the Metabolic Task Force at the Heritage Valley Health System (HVHS), Dr. Jerome-Zapadka is attempting to raise awareness of the Metabolic/Insulin Resistance Syndrome pandemic and how health care systems are approaching this. Until recently, she sat on the Board of Directors at HVHS. She speaks widely in the community on these issues.
Dr. Jerome-Zapadka’s goal for Trajectory Health Partners is to become a hub for education --
not just for patients, but for medical and nursing students, medical residents, and
health care providers already in practice.
An Honors graduate from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honors Society, Dr. Jerome-Zapadka has been voted a Top Doc by Pittsburgh Magazine in 2022, 2023, and 2024.