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Karen is an entrepreneur and executive in the biomedical industry. She is currently President of Nabu Health Care Consulting, Chair of the Board of Directors of Gynesonics, and serves on the Boards of Directors of Amplyx Pharmaceuticals, Velocity Pharmaceutical Development and Venous Health Systems. She is also the 2013 Chair of the Board of Directors for the American Diabetes Association, as well as Vice Chair of the Board of the American Diabetes Association's Research Foundation.

In 2010, Dr. Talmadge retired as Vice President and Chief Science Officer, Kyphon Products, and Bakken Fellow, Medtronic Spine in Sunnyvale, CA. She joined Medtronic in 2007 when it acquired Kyphon Inc. for $4.2 B. Kyphon was a minimally-invasive spine company which she co-founded and funded. Prior to its acquisition, she served as Kyphon's Chief Science Officer from 2003, as its Executive Vice President from 1998, and as a member of its Board of Directors from inception in 1994. She was Kyphon's President, Chief Executive Officer and Treasurer 1994-1998. She also spent a decade in various research and business roles at the biotechnology company, Scios Inc., now part of Johnson & Johnson.

Named one of the 2013 Women of Influence by the Silicon Valley Business Journal, Dr. Talmadge has received multiple awards, published numerous scientific papers, and holds over 80 patents worldwide. She received an A.B. in biology from Bryn Mawr College and a PhD in biochemistry from Harvard University, conducted post-doctoral research at Harvard University and Cold Spring Harbor Labs, and attended a year of law school at Columbia University, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.