Study sheds light on needs of young people who survive cancer
Emergency department use was common for adolescent and young adult cancer survivors within 5 years of a cancer diagnosis, and differences in use were associated with social and demographic factors and cancer type, according to a new Kaiser Permanente study. The American Cancer Society reports that ...
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Five questions for … Dr. Huong Nguyen
A nurse and health services researcher, Huong Q. Nguyen, PhD, RN, focuses her research on the care of older adults with chronic and serious illnesses. She is the co-lead of the Care Improvement Research ...
Q&A with Physician Researcher of the Year: Dr. Michael Fassett
Michael J. Fassett, MD, came to work at Kaiser Permanente in 2000. Since then, his dedication to his patients through research has grown. He’s published more than 50 research papers in peer-reviewed ...
COVID bivalent booster protects well against hospitalization
A Kaiser Permanente study shows the Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2 BA.4/5 bivalent mRNA vaccine helped protect against a range of COVID symptoms and was effective against the COVID XBB strain sublineages. ...
Few pregnant women admitted for delivery have COVID-19
July 3, 2020New research shows that few women admitted to Kaiser Permanente Southern California hospitals to give birth this spring tested positive for COVID-19. Those who did were asymptomatic, and none passed on the infection to their newborns. “We had heard from our colleagues in New York about the high rate of COVID-19 among pregnant women coming to ...Read more...Screening cancer patients for distress
June 29, 2020When she was a new scientist at Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Erin E. Hahn, PhD, MPH, had an intense interest in cancer research. Oncologists invited her into their quarterly meetings so she could see and hear the challenges they faced. One of those challenges was depression and anxiety among cancer patients. Dr. Hahn and others worked ...Read more...Patient advisors revolutionize research
June 29, 2020Fifteen years ago when Matt Owen was a freshman psychology major in college, he had a “psychotic break from reality.” “I started having hallucinations that altered my mind in a way that dealing with everyday life became challenging,” he said. “It changed the course of my life.” Times were rocky for a while, including more than a ...Read more...Resident research improves patient care
June 29, 2020At the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center, pediatric resident Jacqueline Nguyen, MD, wanted to know how flu shots affected young patients with asthma. With help from her resident research advisor, she dug into data from electronic health records and found that flu vaccination reduced hospitalization rates for respiratory issues by 25% over the 6-year ...Read more...5 questions for … Dr. Jean Lawrence
June 28, 2020Department of Research & Evaluation Senior Research Scientist Jean M. Lawrence, ScD, MPH, MSSA, studies diabetes among women, children, and young adults. Why did you choose to devote your career to researching ways women and children can live better, healthier lives? I’ve always been interested in women’s and children’s health and started my career working as a ...Read more...EIS officer makes a difference here and abroad
June 23, 2020As an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Lisa Oakley, PhD, MPH, knew she would have an excellent training experience using electronic health records to find answers to important clinical and public health questions when she reported to the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Department of Research & Evaluation in ...Read more...Living longer and better after cancer
June 12, 2020Clinical trials play a vital role in advancing cancer treatment at Kaiser Permanente, improving patients’ survival and quality of life. “Until the day that cancer is cured, there’s always room for improvement,” said Helen Moon, MD, a hematologist and oncologist at the Kaiser Permanente Riverside Medical Center. Helping to achieve that improvement is Dr. Moon’s role as ...Read more...5 questions for … Dr. Deborah Cohen
May 20, 2020Deborah A. Cohen, MD, MPH, an international expert on the health benefit of parks, is the newest scientist at the Department of Research & Evaluation. She began working in the department’s Division of Behavioral Research in January. She previously worked as a senior physician policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. She has served on panels for ...Read more...Launching a multisite clinical trial in the midst of a pandemic
May 19, 2020In early March 2020, as it became clear the novel coronavirus was closing in on Southern California, clinical trials leaders from the Department of Research & Evaluation began assessing options for an investigational treatment that could be studied through clinical trials. With no approved medications to fight COVID-19, the need for an investigational option to ...Read more...Advancing treatments through clinical trials
May 19, 2020Kaiser Permanente’s clinical trials program helps advance treatment for health conditions ranging from heart disease and cancer to infectious diseases, such as HIV and COVID-19. William Towner, MD, FACP, FIDSA, physician director for clinical trials at Kaiser Permanente Southern California, has seen firsthand how clinical trials can contribute to the development of more effective and safer ...Read more...