Research Communications

Expert communicators help us get the word out

The Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) communications team provides a variety of editorial, graphic, and other creative services to our scientists and their collaborators. This robust communications support helps our research teams secure funding, recruit study participants, design intervention materials, and share their study results worldwide. We use a tailored messaging approach to meet the needs of different key audiences—including patients, health care providers, policymakers, research funders, the media, and the public.

Communication services for research—from start to finish

Our communications team provides helpful services across the lifecycle of a research project:

• Experienced scientific editors are available to help with grant proposals, manuscripts, information graphics, and scientific presentations.
• Our creative services team consults with study teams on communication strategies for targeted recruitment to maximize study enrollment.
• Skilled writers and designers develop print and web-based recruitment notices, including brochures, posters, and other study advertisements. We also help research teams create intervention materials that are appealing and easy to use. We base our approach on strategies and best practices learned from other studies’ successes and challenges.
• The team’s Program for Readability In Science & Medicine (PRISM) provides expertise in health literacy and plain language editing—helping ensure consent forms, lay research summaries, and other research information for participants and the public is clear and easy to read.
• Our in-house video team provides a full range of services, including video scripting, production, and editing. Videos are used for study interventions and procedures, as well as dissemination of important research findings to the media and the public.
• Our media relations experts use a variety of strategies to share our research findings widely. We publish news releases, provide media training to our scientists, help news media, and post daily updates about our research on top social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
• We work with leaders and administrators across Kaiser Permanente to communicate important research findings to our patients, providers, and staff—helping translate promising research into better care.

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Contact:

For more information about KPWHRI communications, please contact:

Joan DeClaire
Communications Director
206-287-2653
joan.m.declaire@kp.org