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

Reed SD, Lampe JW, Qu C, Gundersen G, Fuller S, Copeland WK, Newton KM. Self-reported menopausal symptoms in a racially diverse population and soy food consumption. Maturitas. 2013 Apr 2. pii: S0378-5122(13)00060-1. doi: 10.1016/j.maturitas.2013.03.003. [Epub ahead of print].

Newton KM, Peissig PL, Kho AN, Bielinski SJ, Berg RL, Choudhary V, Basford M, Chute CG, Kullo IJ, Li R, Pacheco JA, Rasmussen LV, Spangler L, Denny JC. Validation of electronic medical record-based phenotyping algorithms: results and lessons learned from the eMERGE Network. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2013 Mar 26. [Epub ahead of print].

Schick UM, McDavid A, Crane PK, Weston N, Ehrlich K, Newton KM, Wallace R, Bookman E, Harrison T, Aragaki A, Wang SS, Reiner AP, Jackson RD, Peters U, Larson EB, Jarvik GP, Carlson CS. Confirmation of the reported association of clonal chromosomal mosaicism with an increased risk of incident hematologic cancer. PLoS ONE 8(3): e59823. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0059823.

Sternfeld B, LaCroix A, Caan BJ, Dunn AL, Newton KM, Reed SD, Guthrie KA, Booth-Laforce C, Sherman KJ, Cohen L, Freeman MP, Carpenter JS, Hunt JR, Roberts M, Ensrud KE. Design and methods of a multi-site, multi-behavioral treatment trial for menopausal symptoms: The MsFLASH experience. Contemp Clin Trials. 2013 Feb 24;35(1):25-34. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2013.02.009 [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

Crosslin DR, McDavid A, Weston N, Zheng X, Hart E, de Andrade M, Kullo IJ, McCarty CA, Doheny KF, Pugh E, Kho A, Hayes MG, Ritchie MD, Saip A, Crawford DC, Crane PK, Newton K, Carrell DS, Gallego CJ, Nalls MA, Li R, Mirel DB, Crenshaw A, Couper DJ, Tanaka T, van Rooij FJA, Chen M-H, Smith AV, Zakai NA, Yango Q, Garcia M, Liu Y, Lumley T, Folsom AR, Reiner AP, Felix JF, Dehghan A, Wilson Jg, Bis JC, Fox CS, Glazer NL, Cupples LA, Coresh J, Eiriksdottir G, Gudnason V, Bandinelli S, Frayling TM, Chakravarti A, van Duijn CM, Melzer D, Levy D, Boerwinkle E, Singleton AB, Hernandez DG, Longo DL, Witteman JCM, Psaty BM, Ferrucci L, Harris TB, O’Donnell CJ, Ganesh SK, CHARGE Hematology Working Group, Larson EB, Carlson CS, Jarvik GP, and the Electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE) Network Genetic variation associated with circulating monocyte count in the eMERGE Network. Hum Mol Genet. 2013 Jan 12. [Epub ahead of print].

LaCroix AZ, Freeman EW, Larson J, Carpenter JS, Joffe H, Reed SD, Newton KM, Seguin RA, Sternfeld B, Cohen L, Ensrud KE. Effects of escitalopram on menopause-specific quality of life and pain in healthy menopausal women with hot flashes: A randomized controlled trial. Maturitas. 2012 Dec;73(4):361-8. doi: 10.1016/j.maturitas.2012.09.006. Epub 2012 Sep 30. PubMed

Thacker EL, McKnight B, Psaty BM, Longstreth WT Jr, Dublin S, Jensen PN, Newton KM, Smith NL, Siscovick DS, Heckbert SR. Association of body mass index, diabetes, hypertension, and blood pressure levels with risk of permanent atrial fibrillation. J Gen Intern Med. 2013 Feb;28(2):247-53. doi: 10.1007/s11606-012-2220-4. Epub 2012 Sep 13. PubMed

Ensrud KE, Joffe H, Guthrie KA, Larson JC, Reed SD, Newton KM, Sternfeld B, LaCroix AZ, Landis CA, Woods NF, Freeman EW. Effect of escitalopram on insomnia symptoms and subjective sleep quality in healthy perimenopausal and postmenopausal women with hot flashes: a randomized controlled trial. Menopause. 2012 Aug;19(8):848-55. PubMed

Atkinson C, Newton KM, Yong M, Stanczyk FZ, Westerlind KC, Li L, Lampe JW. Daidzein-metabolizing phenotypes in relation to bone density and body composition among premenopausal women in the United States. Metabolism. 2012 Dec;61(12):1678-82. doi: 10.1016/j.metabol.2012.05.012. Epub 2012 Jul 21. PubMed

Chaudhari M, Hubbard R, Reid RJ, Inge R, Newton KM, Spangler L, Barlow WE. Evaluating components of dental utilization among adults with diabetes and matched controls via hurdle models. BMC Oral Health. 2012 Jul 9;12:20. doi: 10.1186/1472-6831-12-20. PubMed

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

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