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

Karen J. Coleman, PhD, MS
Research Scientist III
Division of Health Services Research & Implementation Science
626-564-3580
Karen.J.Coleman@kp.org

Dr. Karen Coleman studies the behavioral, social, and environmental determinants of success after weight loss surgery. An additional focus of her research is on interventions in primary care settings for adult depression. Dr. Coleman’s main areas of interest are health equity and the study of factors at the level of the patient, the provider, and the system that lead to successful interventions for physical and emotional wellness.

Dr. Coleman directs one of the largest weight loss registries ...

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: Q&A with Physician Researcher of the Year: Dr. Michael Fassett

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 journals. Now, as the regional physician-in-charge for Maternal-Fetal Medicine and the area research chair for the West Los Angeles and Kern County service ...

Five questions for … Dr. Annette Langer-Gould

  Annette Langer-Gould, MD, PhD, is a translational neuroscientist with the Southern California Permanente Medical Group. She treats people with multiple sclerosis (MS) at the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center. Dr. Langer-Gould joined Kaiser Permanente in 2009. Her research aims to deepen understanding of MS while improving quality of care. Recently, she co-authored an ...

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. The most substantial benefit of the bivalent vaccine booster was keeping people out of the hospital and keeping people from becoming critically ill. The study was ...

Kaiser Permanente Southern California to lead CDC-funded center to improve outbreak and disease prediction

  Kaiser Permanente Southern California has been tapped to lead an innovation center that will develop advanced modeling approaches to better predict disease outbreaks and prepare the United States for future public health emergencies. The center is 1 of 13 sites that will form the Outbreak Analytics and Disease Modeling Network, a national initiative funded ...

Diabetes increased among kids during pandemic

A study of more than 1 million Kaiser Permanente members ages 19 and younger found that rates of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes increased among children during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly for those ages 10 and older, male children, and children in specific racial and ethnic groups. The study was published September 21, ...

Events

Featured Division

Clinician Research

The Division of Clinician Research provides support and resources for researchers who maintain clinical practices while building their own research portfolios. Key goals include fostering collaboration among clinician researchers, expanding research education, and promoting research that has the potential to transform care and improve the health of our communities.

The division, which was established in 2023, provides administrative support to the Regional Research Committee and the Clinician Investigator Program and manages a team of biostatisticians dedicated to physician research. It co-leads the Care Improvement Research Team, a group that brings together clinicians and research scientists to answer questions with the potential to change practice.

The division actively engages with various collaborators throughout the organization and is working to establish an interconnected network of clinicians, scientists, educators, administrators, and leaders who will work together to drive clinically impactful change through research.