Karen Costenbader is a rheumatologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is the Director of the Lupus programs, and established the BWH Lupus Biobank, used for studies investigating biomarkers, molecular signatures and genetics. Her research investigates the epidemiology and pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Costenbader received her medical degree from Harvard Medical School, a master’s degree from Cambridge University in England, and a master's in public health from Harvard School of Public Health. She completed an internal medicine internship and medical residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, as well as training in rheumatology at both the Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.