Formerly the director of the Center for Community Health and Evaluation (CCHE), Allen Cheadle, PhD, now serves as a CCHE senior research associate and KPWHRI senior investigator.
Dr. Cheadle's efforts with CCHE during the last several years have involved measuring and enhancing the impact of Kaiser Permanente's community health initiatives. He led the evaluation of the Kaiser Permanente Community Health Initiative from 2004 to 2017, which promoted the use of policy and environmental strategies to reduce obesity in 30 communities nationwide. CCHE tracked strategy-level progress and impact, measured changes in community-level health indicators, and provided formative feedback to the communities and to Kaiser Permanente.
Since stepping down as director of CCHE, Dr. Cheadle remains on its leadership team and seeks to continue the Center's work in evaluating community initiatives, working with foundations to build the capacity of community-based organizations, and helping safety-net organizations improve the care they provide.
Dr. Cheadle's work with other KPWHRI investigators is focused on collaborative research and evaluation projects, particularly those that can improve the Kaiser Permanente Washington delivery system and contribute to its development as a "learning health system" where research influences practice and practice influences research. These projects are also aimed at advancing Kaiser Permanente Washington's ability to benefit the broader community.
Before becoming CCHE director in 2011, Dr. Cheadle worked with the Center for more than 15 years on a range of projects through his affiliation with KPWHRI as a research professor at the University of Washington School of Public Health, where he is now an affiliate professor of health services.
Creating approaches to assessing community health – broadly defined to include the social determinants of health and health equity
Developing methods and measures to assess the impact of complex community-based systems and policy change efforts
Diehr P, Koepsell T, Cheadle A, Psaty BM, Wagner E, Curry S. Do communities differ in health behaviors? J Clin Epidemiol. 1993;46(10):1141-9. PubMed
Cheadle A, Psaty BM, Curry S, Wagner E, Diehr P, Koepsell T, Kristal A. Can measures of the grocery store environment be used to track community-level dietary changes? Prev Med. 1993;22(3):361-72. PubMed
Wickizer TM, Von Korff M, Cheadle A, Maeser J, Wagner EH, Pearson D, Beery W, Psaty BM. Activating communities for health promotion: a process evaluation method. Am J Public Health. 1993;83(4):561-7. PubMed
Curry SJ, Wagner EH, Cheadle A, Diehr P, Koepsell T, Psaty B, McBride C. Assessment of community-level influences on individuals' attitudes about cigarette smoking, alcohol use, and consumption of dietary fat. Am J Prev Med. 1993;9(2):78-84. PubMed
Recognizing outstanding support of personal and professional growth and commitment to values and inclusion.
CCHE is devising new ways to find the interventions that most benefit community health and how best to measure them.