Dr. Karen Horst was born and raised in Houston, Texas.  She attended Yale University, majoring in philosophy with a focus on women's philosophy.   She attended Baylor College of Medicine for medical school and met a fellow student and her future husband, David Horst, there.  She completed two years of residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Baylor and then followed a fascination with psychosomatic medicine by transferring to the psychiatry department and completing a residency in psychiatry. Dr. Horst is medical director of The Women's Place, a reproductive psychiatry clinic at The Pavilion for Women, Texas Children’s Hospital, and co-medical director of The Menopause Center at Texas Children's. She is also medical director of the Baylor hub of the Perinatal Psychiatric Access Network (PeriPAN).