Recognition January 2022


Dr. Dublin consults for FDA on COVID-19 pill

Sascha Dublin, MD, PhD, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) senior investigator, was invited to serve on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Advisory Committee reviewing molnupiravir, a new pill from Merck for treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 disease. In November, Dr. Dublin consulted for the FDA committee, which narrowly voted to recommend molnupiravir for emergency use authorization for some adults. In December, Dr. Dublin, who is a physician with the Washington Permanente Medical Group, was invited to speak on the topic at Johns Hopkins Division of Infectious Disease COVID-19 Grand Rounds. Dr. Dublin's remarks begin at 41 minutes in the recorded webinar.

Dr. Jackson recognized as researcher of the year

KPWHRI Senior Investigator Lisa Jackson, MD, MPH, was named 2021 Researcher of the Year by the Puget Sound Business Journal (subscription required to view article) as part of their year-end Health Care Leadership Awards. In announcing the awards, the journal honored researchers and innovators in health care and health technology. Dr. Jackson is leading COVID-19 vaccine research at KPWHRI, including the first trial of an mRNA vaccine against the disease.

Dr. Hoopes joins KPWHRI faculty 

KPWHRI welcomes Annie Hoopes, MD, MPH, as an acting assistant investigator. Dr. Hoopes is a physician and researcher focusing on improving sexual and reproductive health services and health systems for adolescents. She is a Kaiser Permanente Washington physician specializing in adolescent medicine. At KPWHRI, she is a scholar in the KPWHRI CATALyST program (for Consortium for Application Training to Advance the Learning health system with Scholars/Trainees) investigating how to improve the design and use of the Kaiser Permanente patient portal for adolescent sexual and reproductive health needs. 

Drs. Hoopes, Lapham, and Lozano present on adolescent care

At the International Association of Adolescent Health World Congress in November, KPWHRI Acting Assistant Investigator Annie Hoopes, MD, MPH, Assistant Investigator Gwen Lapham, PhD, MPH, MSW, and Senior Investigator Paula Lozano, MD, MPH, gave a virtual preconference workshop along with Kaiser Permanente Washington collaborator and former KPWHRI researcher Amy Lee. The talk was on using a learning health system to implement universal mental health and substance use screening for adolescents in primary care.

Dr. Sherman presents at international pain forum

In November, Karen Sherman, PhD, MPH, KPWHRI senior investigator, presented at the 17th International Forum for Back and Neck Pain Research in Primary Care. At the global virtual conference, Dr. Sherman spoke on "Interest in mindfulness training for chronic low back pain," presenting results from a vignette-driven, web-based survey of patients. Coauthors on the presentation were Biostatistician Rob Wellman, MS, Senior Investigator Cara Lewis, PhD, and Affiliate Investigator Salene Jones, PhD.

Dr. Penfold presents at NIA Grand Rounds

In November, for the National Institute on Aging IMPACT Collaboratory, Rob Penfold, PhD,

KPWHRI senior investigator, presented at a Grand Rounds webinar. Dr. Penfold and other panelists discussed challenges related to conducting pragmatic trials for interventions designed to help care partners of people living with dementia. 

Dr. Simon presents at PCORI meeting

 In November, Greg Simon, MD, MPH, KPWHRI senior investigator, spoke at the annual meeting of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). Dr. Simon was one of several experts who spoke at the plenary session on "Accelerating Progress Toward an Integrated Learning Health System."​​​​​​​

Dr. DeBar presents at NIH Grand Rounds

In December, KPWHRI Senior Investigator Lynn DeBar, PhD, MPH, spoke about the primary results from her PPACT study (for Pain Program for Active Coping and Training) at Grand Rounds for the National Institutes of Health Collaboratory. The project investigated cognitive behavioral therapy that included yoga-based movement skills for helping people on long-term opioids with chronic pain.