Kaiser Permanente
Division of Research Spotlight
The Kaiser Permanente Division of Research conducts, publishes, and disseminates epidemiologic and health services research to improve the health and medical care of Kaiser Permanente members and society at large. We seek to understand the determinants of illness and well-being, and to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of health care. Currently, DOR’s 550-plus staff is working on more than 350 epidemiological and health services research projects.
"As a first-year medical student, I enjoyed learning about the pathophysiology of disease. But as I gained more experience caring for patients suffering from these diseases, I realized I wanted to focus more on understanding the patient’s experience."
The former social worker now researches how to prevent and treat alcohol abuse in primary care. She's looking at ways to reduce alcohol, drug, and other behavioral health problems in at-risk children, adolescents, and adults.
Does weight gain — or loss — change a breast cancer patient's cancer outcome? What about muscle mass? Epidemiologist Bette Caan wanted to find out about that, and more.
With December 1 marking World AIDS Day, this infectious disease expert looks at the state of HIV/AIDS research. And despite his Northern California location, admits he's a diehard Los Angeles Lakers fan.
The math major-turned diabetes researcher now also leads several training programs, helping to form a new generation of researchers.
"If other health care systems and providers had adopted Kaiser Permanente’s approach and achieved the same rate of decline, I estimated in this latest National Forum report that 40,000 heart disease and stroke deaths in this age group would have been prevented in 2015 alone."
"As long as I can remember, my family was interested in how diet and lifestyle influenced health and longevity. It was like living life according to an epidemiological textbook!"
Marilyn Kwan's research focuses on how wellness factors affect survivorship in breast and bladder cancer patients. Kwan is a certified CrossFit Level 1 trainer; she hopes to some day conduct lifestyle research involving CrossFit in cancer survivors.
Alyce Adams, PhD, tackles 5 questions about the barriers to health care among vulnerable patient populations and her motivation towards finding solutions.
Kaiser Permanente autism researcher answers 5 questions about what motivated her to move into this research field and the challenges in better understanding these disorders.
