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.
About 75 children are scheduled to receive their first vaccination against COVID-19 as part of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine clinical trial through Kaiser Permanente Northern California.
Kaiser Permanente’s Vaccine Study Center is leading a key part of the national safety surveillance effort for the COVID-19 vaccines, tracking patient data for serious side effects.
What does it take to be sure the annual flu vaccine is effective and safe? Research. In a podcast, Nicola Klein, head of the Vaccine Study Center, tackles some common questions about the vaccine and recent findings.
A Kaiser Permanente analysis of women who did not get flu shots during their pregnancies found the women clustered in geographic “hot spots.” These women tended to have fewer prenatal medical visits and live in low-income neighborhoods.
The Division of Research has joined a phase 3 clinical trial testing a Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against the COVID-19 virus. Kaiser Permanente Southern California and Northwest join them in this global effort.
A Kaiser Permanente study of women who were given inactivated influenza vaccine while pregnant found no indication of developmental problems for their babies at 6 months old.
Children who were up to date on their pertussis vaccine schedule were far less likely to develop the disease than those unvaccinated. The risk of vaccinated children becoming ill increased with time since vaccination, suggesting waning effectiveness.
In part 2 of our profile series, meet the last three of the seven early-career researchers who began their post-doctoral appointments this past year and represent not only diverse communities but diverse research interests as well.
The JAMA Network, the publication home for numerous top-tier journals from the American Medical Association, released a list of the “Most Talked About Articles” in each of their various publications for 2018. DOR research appears on four lists.
Kaiser Permanente collaborated with CDC researchers to study the effectiveness of flu vaccinations in preventing influenza-associated hospitalizations during pregnancy.
