Dr. William Towner named 2022 SCPMG Physician Researcher of the Year
William J. Towner, MD, FACP, FIDSA, physician director of the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Clinical Trials Program, has been named the 2022 Southern California Permanente Medical Group Physician Researcher of the Year. The award has been given each year since 2007 to recognize a physician ...
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Original COVID-19 vaccine booster effect wanes against BA.4 and BA.5
A Kaiser Permanente study published January 12, 2023, in Nature Communications shows that third and fourth doses of the monovalent Moderna mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccine lose protection against infection ...
5 questions for … Dr. Hung Fu Tseng
Hung Fu Tseng, PhD, MPH, is a senior scientist in the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Department of Research & Evaluation and a professor at the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of ...
Quality improvement reduces blood pressure control disparities
A Kaiser Permanente Southern California quality improvement program, which harnessed clinical and culturally responsive care strategies, nearly halved the racial disparities previously seen in blood ...
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...Stroke program integrates clinical trials
May 17, 2020At Kaiser Permanente Southern California, physicians and researchers have been transforming stroke care, from simply treating the patients to also enrolling those not helped by the standard care into a clinical trials program, which expands the treatment options. “Our stroke program shows how Kaiser Permanente is invested in growing our clinical care through clinical trials,” said ...Read more...English and non-English speakers get equal treatment in emergency departments
May 17, 2020Kaiser Permanente Southern California researchers set out to understand the importance of emergency department patients and physicians speaking the same language by looking at the health outcomes and quality of care for patients with chest pain. They hypothesized that patients speaking a different language than their physician may have worse outcomes. They were happy to find ...Read more...COVID-19 grant award for urgently needed cardiovascular research
May 1, 2020Investigators from Kaiser Permanente Southern California, led by Jaejin An, PhD, are among 12 scientific teams selected by the American Heart Association to fast-track research on heart and brain health related to COVID-19. The team will study the risks associated with taking antihypertensive medications in patients with confirmed COVID-19 infection and high blood pressure. “In conversations with ...Read more...