Our Research
Science to serve one goal: Better health
Scientists at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) have a rare advantage: We work within a system that provides both care and coverage. With a 360-degree view of people’s everyday health experience over time, we discover what works best to serve Kaiser Permanente's mission: better health.
We collaborate closely with Kaiser Permanente Washington's medical staff and other providers — gaining from their perspectives on practical approaches to health care’s toughest problems. Together, we create a learning health care system — a place where research strengthens practice and practice strengthen research.
Scientists
Working in the public interest
Our faculty work on interdisciplinary research teams, conducting about 300 studies at any given time. They partner with affiliate researchers and others from academic institutions and health systems and share findings in the public domain to serve the public good.
See our KPWHRI researcher directory.
Funding sources
A broad base of support
Most of our support comes from federal agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health. We also contract with biomedical companies and receive grants from private foundations. About 5 percent of our budget comes from Kaiser Permanente Washington.
See our list of funders.
Research
Changing sitting habits shows meaningful impact
A new trial highlights a promising intervention to improve blood pressure in older adults.
Recent publications
Donahue JG, Cocoros NM, Kieke BA, Hanson KE, Weintraub ES, Yih WK, Scotty E, McClure DL, Fireman B, Boyce TG, Maro JC, Bartlett J, Glanz JM, Haapala JL, Horberg M, Hurley L, Irving SA, Jackson LA, Kim S, Klein NP, McNeil MM, Myers TR, Qian L, Smith N, Sundaram ME, Tartof S, Wang L, Xu S, Belongia EA. Near real-time surveillance and tree-based data mining to assess the safety of respiratory syncytial virus vaccines in older adults in the vaccine safety datalink. Vaccine. 2025;67:127873. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2025.127873. Epub 2025 Oct 24. PubMed
Chung JR, Price AM, Zimmerman RK, Moehling Geffel K, House SL, Curley T, Wernli KJ, Phillips CH, Martin ET, Vaughn IA, Murugan V, Scotch M, Saade EA, Faryar KA, Gaglani M, Ramm JD, Williams OL, Walter EB, Kirby MK, Keong LM, Kondor R, Ellington SR, , Flannery B. Influenza vaccine effectiveness against medically attended outpatients illness, United States, 2023-2024 season. Clin Infect Dis. 2025;81(4):e184-e191. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciae658. PubMed
Parker K, Heneghan MB, Li QW, Brunson A, Ou J, Kaddas HK, Abrahão R, Chubak J, Wernli KJ, Zebrack B, Hahn EE, Kushi LH, Nichols HB, Keegan T, Kirchhoff AC. Identifying clustering in patterns of late effects among survivors of adolescent and young adult Hodgkin lymphoma. JNCI Cancer Spectr. 2025;9(6):pkaf094. doi: 10.1093/jncics/pkaf094. PubMed
Carter-Bawa L, Lafata JE, Slaven JE Jr, Monahan PO, Vielma AG, Wernli KJ, Brandzel S, Gao H, Rawl SM. Navigating shared decision-making in lung cancer screening: Insights into barriers, training, and referral propensity among clinicians. Patient Educ Couns. 2025 Nov;140:109303. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2025.109303. Epub 2025 Aug 8. PubMed
Collaborate with us
KPWHRI welcomes partnerships with researchers outside of Kaiser Permanente as well as Kaiser Permanente clinicians and researchers. Learn more about collaborating with us.
Land Acknowledgment
Our Seattle offices sit on the occupied land of the Duwamish and by the shared waters of the Coast Salish people, who have been here thousands of years and remain. Learn about practicing land acknowledgment.