Focus Feature:
In 2020 Kaiser Permanente Southern California researchers and clinicians responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with dozens of studies and clinical trials that helped assess risk, build decision support tools, and evaluate new vaccines and treatments. In the midst of all this, vital research continued on many other fronts. The Department of Research & Evaluation’s 2020 Annual Report highlights some of that important research, and also includes an overview of the research program, profiles of our investigators, and a list of all studies published in 2020.
Below are featured studies in the Annual Report.
R&E News and Features
Determining who is most at risk from COVID-19
As the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, swelled, and consumed Southern California, researchers and physicians at Kaiser Permanente Southern California quickly mobilized to determine who was at the most risk and how to better protect them. Their work made headlines in major publications such as The New York Times and helped clinicians determine who needed the most focus at a time when resources were limited.
Clinical trials bring hope during global pandemic
On a Saturday morning in mid-March 2020, Dr. William Towner and Dr. Hai Linh Kerrigan, the leaders of Kaiser Permanente Southern California’s clinical trials program in the Department of Research & Evaluation, huddled on a conference call discussing the feasibility of getting a trial launched quickly for an investigational drug called remdesivir …
Searching for evidence to guide COVID-19 care
In April 2020, physician scientist Dr. Adam Sharp spent his emergency department shifts working in an ambulance bay at the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center, where he evaluated patients who came in seeking care for symptoms that could be COVID-19. Dr. Sharp recalled: “I remember sitting there, in all my protective gear, thinking, ‘How am I supposed to know which of these patients might be most at risk and who really needs to be admitted to the hospital?’”
Scientists research masking adherence with communities across the country
When the COVID-19 pandemic closed playgrounds, Dr. Deborah Cohen’s research into playground use and physical activity could also have come to a halt. Instead, with the blessing of the National Institutes of Health, which was funding the work, she pivoted to conducting research relevant to lighting the way through the pandemic: Who was adhering to the outdoor masking recommendations, and who wasn’t?
Clinical trials are driving a revolution in stroke care
Stroke is the fifth leading cause of death in the United States, and in the past 5 years, stroke treatment has undergone a renaissance. Clinical trials at Kaiser Permanente Southern California and elsewhere have shown that stroke patients benefit not only from medication, but also from interventional clot removal.
CDC disease detectives build bridges to national COVID-19 response
In February 2020, Dr. Lisa Oakley was in Ghana assisting with a polio vaccination campaign when she heard the news about COVID-19 on TV. “We were seeing the cases in Wuhan, seeing the beginning of the pandemic play out,” she said. “I suspected it would be hitting us about the time I got back home, but I had no idea how big it would become.”
In the News
Where you live may affect your long-term survival after a heart attack
Los Angeles SentinelAugust 26, 2021HPV vaccination does not mean lower risk for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia
HealioAugust 17, 2021
Five questions...
for Dr. Darryl Palmer-Toy
As the physician director of the Regional Reference Core Laboratories for Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Dr. Darryl Palmer-Toy oversees the ancillary, clinical chemistry, and immunochemistry departments, which perform about 20 million tests per year. A student of proteomics (the study of proteins expressed by the genome) and biomarker discovery, his more recent research interests focus on SARS-CoV-2 serologic testing.