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

Nana Mensah, PhD, MPH
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Division of Epidemiologic Research
626-564-7065
Nana.A.Mensah@kp.org

Dr. Mensah is a maternal/child health epidemiologist and postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Research & Evaluation. Her research seeks to understand how clinical guidelines and practices shape preterm birth outcomes in women at risk for preterm labor. Her research priorities include working with the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Pregnancy Registry.

Before joining Kaiser Permanente in 2021, Dr. Mensah worked in research in a number of roles at the University of ...

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

Health Services Research & Implementation Science

Our health services researchers bring together scientific and clinical expertise to find better ways to improve care.

Investigators with the Division of Health Services Research & Implementation Science study how care is delivered, identify opportunities for care improvement, and implement new approaches for organizing and delivering health services. The division brings together scientists with diverse expertise and training, including emergency medicine, epidemiology, health services research, implementation science, internal medicine, nursing, pharmaceutical economics, and pulmonology.

The division co-leads the Care Improvement Research Team, a research team embedded within Kaiser Permanente Southern California’s quality improvement ecosystem. The team works closely with clinical and operational partners at Kaiser Permanente Southern California to identify, prioritize, and solve problems related to quality and affordability. Its goal is to reduce unnecessary practice variation, improve affordability, and transform care.