News

The growing need for solutions to important health questions requires innovative thinking beyond what experts know today. The Department of Research & Evaluation’s 2019 Annual Report, “Stretching the Frontier: Research Improving Health and Well-being,” illustrates some of the innovative ways Kaiser Permanente Southern California researchers and clinicians are working together toward answers to those questions. The ...

New 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 ...

When 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 ...

Fifteen 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 ...

Receiving a cancer diagnosis can be a terrifying moment for a patient. But when patients at Kaiser Permanente Southern California see a physician for cancer, they can take comfort knowing they are also seeing a clinician researcher who can help them access the latest tools being studied for fighting the disease. “We are an integrated health ...

The Department of Research & Evaluation hosted 2 conferences that stretched the frontiers of health care in 2019. One focused on turning data into research with an impact on clinical practice. The other focused on improving health system–based embedded research programs. “As an organization, we are on the forefront of conducting research to directly benefit our ...

At 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 ...

Department 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 ...