About Our Program

As a research center embedded within Kaiser Permanente’s large and dynamic health care system, our investigators have a unique opportunity to apply scientific expertise to real-world clinical problems, translate findings into practice, and share what we learn with the broader community.

Featured Scientist

Dr. William Towner headshot
William Towner, MD, FACP, FIDSA
Physician Director
Principal Investigator
Infectious Diseases
Clinical.Trials@kp.org

Dr. William Towner is the physician director for Clinical Trials and serves in a leadership role for HIV Services for Kaiser Permanente Southern California. He has been extensively involved in research on infectious diseases since 2000. His current clinical trial research focuses on HIV, HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis, and vaccine ...

Featured Video

Advancing treatments through clinical trials

Over the years, clinical trials have led to amazing advances in treatment—even cures—for devastating illnesses. William Towner, MD, FACP, FIDSA, regional physician director for clinical trials, describes how trials at Kaiser Permanente contribute to the development of more effective and safer treatments for diseases such as HIV, hepatitis C, cancer, and more. (2:15)

News

Featured Image of News Story Titled: R&E investigator wins prestigious award

R&E investigator wins prestigious award

Jaejin An, PhD, was awarded the Early Career Investigator of the Year award at this year’s Health Care Systems Research Network conference held this month in St. Louis, Missouri. Dr. An is a pharmacoepidemiologist and cardiovascular outcomes researcher for the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Department of Research & Evaluation whose work focuses on disease management, ...

Study identifies who is most at risk of tuberculosis

People born in countries with a high burden of tuberculosis (TB) and living in the United States have higher rates of TB disease, and may need more focused screening, according to new Kaiser Permanente research. The study also found higher rates of TB among patients with certain high-risk medical conditions. The study was published in Open ...

Doctors assess glaucoma risk among younger adults

Eye specialists at Kaiser Permanente Southern California studied whether using a standardized testing criteria among younger adults could improve care, reduce unnecessary testing, and potentially reduce blindness from glaucoma. The eye specialists, working with researchers at University of Southern California,  published Outcomes of Glaucoma Referrals in Adults Aged 18 to 40 years in JAMA Network ...

Five questions for … Dr. Aniket Kawatkar

Aniket Kawatkar, PhD, MS, is a research scientist who is interested in understanding the drivers of health care utilization and their associated economic, clinical, and patient-reported outcomes. Dr. Kawatkar uses established methods from econometrics, discrete choice experiments, and net benefit analysis to evaluate interventions and treatments aimed at improving patient care in real-world clinical settings. ...

Bariatric surgery reduces costs for patients with Type 2 diabetes

A Kaiser Permanente found that bariatric surgery reduced health care costs for adults with Type 2 diabetes and obesity. The study was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in February 2025. “The study shows that both Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) and sleeve gastrectomy (SG) help reduce health care costs for people with Type 2 ...

Events

Featured Division

Biostatistics Research

Our biostatisticians provide expert guidance on working with real-world clinical data to investigators in all of our scientific divisions.

Investigators with the Division of Biostatistics Research collaborate closely with scientists from the department’s other scientific divisions, as well as physician researchers at medical centers across Kaiser Permanente Southern California. They provide expertise and guidance on study design, power and sample size calculations, data management, data analysis and interpretation, and statistical methodology.

Investigators from the division have expertise in study design and data analysis for observational studies and clinical trials to address study questions. Their expertise spans standard and modern methods that deal with complex and big data for population and causal inferences as well as disease prediction.

Each division has at least one dedicated collaborative biostatistician research scientist assigned to provide statistical guidance on its research studies. In addition, one of the collaborative biostatistician researcher scientists leads the Regional Research Statistical Support team, which supports medical center-based researchers.