Karen has worked with various branches of the government after cofounding the LDF. She has worked with the Federal Government in numerous capacities including: Health and Human Services (“HHS”) as a Lyme Ambassador; a member of the HHS Tick-borne Disease Working Group and Chair of the TBDWG Access to Care subcommittee.

She worked with the Department of Defense as a Consumer Reviewer of its Congressionally Mandated Lyme Disease Research’s $5 million grant program. Karen even helped LDF Board member Paul Duray, MD with his DOD Lyme research. Karen was good friends with Dr. Robert Quackenbush, NIH’s first Lyme Project Officer.

She has testified before the Food & Drug Administration’s Vaccine Advisory Committee; the Center for Disease Control’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices; Rhode Island’s Governor's hearing on Lyme disease; and Connecticut’s Legislative hearing on insurance coverage of Lyme disease. Attorney Vanderhoof-Forschner has testified in various hearings on Lyme disease, including state and Federal Lyme hearings. In 1993, Senator Ted Kennedy (who Chaired the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee) asked Karen to work with him to arrange a hearing on a Lyme disease. Karen testified at that hearing. The LDF was a referral source for patients and healthcare professionals by Health and Human Services (e.g. CDC, NIH, FDA).