Katherine Newton is a chronic disease epidemiologist who is passionate about finding ways to help women stay healthy during midlife. Known for her research on menopause, Dr. Newton is a national leader in the search for non-hormonal treatments for menopausal symptoms.

After a 20-year career as a cardiovascular nurse specialist, Dr. Newton pursued her PhD in epidemiology and shifted her focus to epidemiologic research, joining Group Health Research Institute (GHRI) as a postdoctoral fellow in 1995. Within 10 years, she had become a busy senior investigator also serving as the Institute's associate director for research, external. A leader in women's health research at GHRI, Dr. Newton focuses on health concerns for women reaching midlife and on menopause in particular. Her number one goal is to help women transition through menopause in the healthiest way possible, and she is especially interested in investigating ways to relieve menopause symptoms without using hormone replacement therapy.

Dr. Newton's 2006 randomized trial of alternative therapies for menopause received widespread interest, leading to several invited talks around the world. Study analyses continue to yield compelling findings, including a 2007 publication linking low libido in menopause to trouble sleeping. She is currently leading a multisite randomized trial to test yoga and ultra low-dose estrogen gel as remedies for common menopausal symptoms. Dr. Newton's other areas of interest include studying the intersection of women's health and chronic disease, especially diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Because of her expertise in mid-life women's health, Dr. Newton is often invited to participate in national meetings related to menopause and hormone replacement therapy. A frequent grant and journal reviewer, she also devotes herself to mentoring students and junior scientists.

Dr. Newton is a member of several professional organizations, including the North American Menopause Society, the Society of Epidemiologic Research, and the American Heart Association. She sits on the latter's councils on cardiovascular epidemiology and cardiovascular nursing. Dr. Newton has held two faculty appointments at the University of Washington since 1999, as affiliate associate professor in epidemiology and affiliate assistant professor in biobehavioral nursing and health systems.

Related information:

• North American Menopause Society
• Society of Epidemiologic Research
• American Heart Association

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Recent publications

Spangler L, Reid RJ, Newton KM, Chaudhari M, Inge R, Hujoel P, Genco R, Barlow WE. Using administrative data for epidemiologic research: case study to identify persons with periodontitis. Periodontol 2000. 2012 Feb;58(1):143-52. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0757.2011.00422.x.

Carpenter JS, Newton KM, Sternfeld B, Joffe H, Reed SD, Ensrud KE, Milata JL. Laboratory and ambulatory evaluation of vasomotor symptom monitors from the Menopause Strategies Finding Lasting Answers for Symptoms and Health Network. Menopause. 2012 Jan 6 [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

Kho AN, Hayes MG, Rasmussen-Torvik L, Pacheco JA, Thompson WK, Armstrong LL, Denny JC, Peissig PL, Miller AW, Wei WQ, Bielinski SJ, Chute CG, Leibson CL, Jarvik GP, Crosslin DR, Carlson CS, Newton KM, Wolf WA, Chisholm RL, Lowe WL. Use of diverse electronic medical record systems to identify genetic risk for type 2 diabetes within a genome-wide association study. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2011 Nov 19 [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

Crosslin DR, McDavid A, Weston N, Nelson SC, Zheng X, Hart E, de Andrade M, Kullo IJ, McCarty CA, Doheny KF, Pugh E, Kho A, Hayes MG, Pretel S, Saip A, Ritchie MD, Crawford DC, Crane PK, Newton K, Li R, Mirel DB, Crenshaw A, Larson EB, Carlson CS, Jarvik GP; The electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE) Network. Genetic variants associated with the white blood cell count in 13,923 subjects in the eMERGE network. Hum Genet. 2011 Oct 30. [Epub ahead of print].

Denny JC, Crawford DC, Ritchie MD, Bielinski SJ, Basford MA, Bradford Y, Chai HS, Bastarache L, Zuvich R, Peissig P, Carrell D, Ramirez AH, Pathak J, Wilke RA, Rasmussen L, Wang X, Pacheco JA, Kho AN, Hayes MG, Weston N, Matsumoto M, Kopp PA, Newton KM, Jarvik GP, Li R, Manolio TA, Kullo IJ, Chute CG, Chisholm RL, Larson EB, McCarty CA, Masys DR, Roden DM, de Andrade M. Variants near FOXE1 are associated with hypothyroidism and other thyroid conditions: using electronic medical records for genome- and phenome-wide studies. Am J Hum Genet. 2011 Oct 7;89(4):529-42. doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2011.09.008.

Newton KM, Grady D. Soy isoflavones for prevention of menopausal bone loss and vasomotor symptoms. Arch Intern Med. 2011;171(15):1369-70. PubMed

Tom SE, Anderson ML, Landis CA, Aiello Bowles EJ, Woods NF, Reed SD, Newton KM, Buist DS. Sleep problems after short-term hormone therapy suspension: secondary analysis of a randomized trial. Menopause. 2011 Nov;18(11):1184-90. PubMed

Newton KM, Chaudhari M, Barlow WE, Inge RE, Theis MK, Spangler LA, Hujoel PP, Reid RJ. A population-based study of periodontal care among those with and without diabetes. J Periodontol. 2011 May 24. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

Kho AN, Pacheco JA, Peissig PL, Rasmussen L, Newton KM, Weston N, Crane PK, Pathak J, Chute CG, Bielinski SJ, Kullo IJ, Li R, Manolio TA, Chisholm RL, Denny JC. Electronic medical records for genetic research: results of the eMERGE consortium. Sci Transl Med. 2011;3:(79)79re1. PubMed

Newton KM, Anderson ML, Reed SD, Bowles EJ, Buist DS. Factors associated with non-compliance with hormone therapy cessation before screening mammography. Climacteric. 2011 Apr;14(2):268-74. Epub 2010 Oct 27. PubMed

To view more publications, please see Dr. Newton's CV.

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