Karen Wehling has been a Research Advocate with Fight CRC for five years. She is also a patient advocate and nine year survivor of stage IV colorectal cancer (CRC).

Using skills from her research advocacy training, she has been involved in the Early-Age Onset Colorectal Cancer Workgroups, a main focus of her colorectal cancer advocacy. She also uses her research advocacy skills as a curator of the Fight CRC Trial Finder. 

In addition, she is a member of the Colorado Colorectal Cancer Task Force, part of the Colorado Cancer Coalition. This group works to raise awareness as well as assists the underserved in Colorado with CRC screenings, and is currently working with the legislature to lower the age for CRC screenings to 45 in Colorado.

Karen is involved directly with the evaluation of clinical trials as a member of COMIRB, the Colorado IRB, which is a committee that reviews proposed research studies for their ethical treatment in clinical trials with human subjects. She does all of this in the hope that her children and grandchildren will live in a world where CRC is no longer the second-leading cause of cancer death.