Senior Investigator Paula Lozano, MD, MPH, is a pediatrician and medical director for research and translation at the Washington Permanente Medical Group. She also co-directs the Center for Accelerating Care Transformation (ACT Center) at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI). Dr. Lozano’s work focuses on helping Kaiser Permanente Washington succeed as a learning health system, where research informs practice and practice informs research.
“The challenges facing health care are so complex,” she said. “The learning health system seems like the best way to deliver on our promise to provide the highest quality, patient-centered, effective, and affordable care to Kaiser Permanente Washington members.”
Dr. Lozano founded Kaiser Permanente Washington’s Learning Health System (LHS) Program in 2017 and continues to lead the organization’s learning health system work through the ACT Center. Established in 2021, the ACT Center brought the LHS Program together with the MacColl Center for Health Care Innovation to help health systems nationwide accelerate care transformation and achieve lasting, equitable improvements in care delivery.
The ACT Center’s learning health system work represents Kaiser Permanente Washington’s investment in the use of rigorous evidence and research methods ─ in partnership with frontline clinicians, leaders, and patients ─ to promote a culture of continuous learning. Deploying the advanced scientific methods available at KPWHRI, the ACT Center helps Kaiser Permanente Washington improve health, make care more affordable, and provide a good patient experience. Dr. Lozano currently leads the Care Management for Chronic Pain program, which aims to promote opioid safety and whole-person pain care.
As former co-director of the CATALyST Learning Health Systems Scholars K12 Training Program, Dr. Lozano trained and mentored multidisciplinary junior faculty at KPWHRI, University of Washington (UW), and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Since January 2024, Dr. Lozano has co-led the Washington Learning Health System Embedded Scientist and Training Research Center (LHS E-STAR Center), which aims to simultaneously train a diverse set of scholars while working in partnership with safety net clinics to transform primary care. Washington LHS E-STAR Center is a collaboration between KPWHRI, UW, VA, and primary care organizations. This work is funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).
Dr. Lozano's other research interests have included health behavior-change, obesity, self-management of chronic conditions, and health disparities. Ongoing projects include an evaluation of Vayu Health, a value-based payment ecosystem for Medicaid beneficiaries living with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, and the Rural Health Laboratory, an initiative to identify and address health insecurities faced by rural communities.
Dr. Lozano’s work has focused on improving health care quality through changing the delivery system, supporting clinical decision-making by providers, and supporting patients and parents in health behavior change. She has also served as an investigator for several U.S. Preventive Services Task Force evidence reviews conducted by the Kaiser Permanente Research Affiliates Evidence-based Practice Center.
Dr. Lozano practiced general pediatrics at Harborview Medical Center and Seattle Children's Hospital while on the faculty at the UW Department of Pediatrics, where she taught residents and medical students. She also served as director of the UW Primary Care Research Fellowship, funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), to provide research training in the primary care disciplines of internal medicine, family medicine, and pediatrics. She is an adjunct professor of health systems and population health at the UW School of Public Health.
Brief behavioral interventions; co-morbid conditions; motivational interviewing; problems-solving therapy; self-management support
Asthma; anxiety and depression; Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); chronic illness management; disadvantaged children's health care services; Medicaid managed care
Child and adolescent health; collaborative approaches to transforming health care systems; patient/family self-management of chronic conditions; self-care
Childhood obesity prevention and control
Lozano PM, Bobb JF, Kapos FP, Cruz M, Mooney SJ, Hurvitz PM, Anau J, Theis MK, Cook A, Moudon AV, Arterburn DE, Drewnowski A. Residential density is associated with BMI trajectories in children and adolescents: Findings from the Moving to Health study. AJPM Focus. 2024 Mar 15;3(3):100225. doi: 10.1016/j.focus.2024.100225. eCollection 2024 Jun. PubMed
Rosenberg DE, Cruz MF, Mooney SJ, Bobb JF, Drewnowski A, Moudon AV, Cook AJ, Hurvitz PM, Lozano P, Anau J, Theis MK, Arterburn DE. Neighborhood built and food environment in relation to glycemic control in people with type 2 diabetes in the moving to health study. Health Place. 2024;86:103216. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103216. Epub 2024 Feb 23. PubMed
Stefanik-Guizlo K, Allen C, Brush S, Mogk J, Canada S, Peck M, Ramos K, Volpe K, Lozano P. Sustaining connections: feasibility and impact of long-term virtual patient engagement. Res Involv Engagem. 2024;10(1):28. doi: 10.1186/s40900-024-00558-2. PubMed
Lee AK, Bobb JF, Richards JE, Achtmeyer CE, Ludman E, Oliver M, Caldeiro RM, Parrish R, Lozano PM, Lapham GT, Williams EC, Glass JE, Bradley KA. Integrating alcohol-related prevention and treatment into primary care: A cluster randomized implementation trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2023 Apr 1;183(4):e227083. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2022.7083. PubMed
Lozano PM, Lane-Fall M, Franklin PD, Rothman RL, Gonzales R, Ong MK, Gould MK, Beebe TJ, Roumie CL, Guise JM, Enders FT, Forrest CB, Mendonca EA, Starrels JL, Sarkar U, Savitz LA, Moon J, Linzer M, Ralston JD, Chesley FD Jr. Training the next generation of learning health system scientists. Learn Health Syst. 2022 Sep 10;6(4):e10342. doi: 10.1002/lrh2.10342. eCollection 2022 Oct. PubMed
Cruz M, Drewnowski A, Bobb JF, Hurvitz PM, Moudon AV, Cook A, Mooney SJ, Buszkiewicz JH, Lozano P, Rosenberg DE, Kapos F, Theis MK, Anau J, Arterburn D. Differences in weight gain following residential relocation in the Moving to Health (M2H) study. Epidemiology. 2022 Sep 1;33(5):747-755. doi: 10.1097/EDE.0000000000001505. Epub 2022 May 20. PubMed
Hoopes AJ, Brandzel SD, Luce C, Ferguson DM, Shulman L, Chavez B, Lozano P, Lapham GT. What do adolescents and their parents need from mental health integration in primary care? A qualitative exploration of design insights. J Pediatr Health Care. 2022 Aug 8:S0891-5245(22)00174-2. doi: 10.1016/j.pedhc.2022.06.006. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Ulloa-Pérez E, Blasi PR, Westbrook EO, Lozano P, Coleman KF, Coley RY. Pragmatic randomized study of targeted text message reminders to reduce missed clinic visits. Perm J. 2022 Apr 5;26(1):64-72. doi: 10.7812/TPP/21.078. PubMed
Figueroa Gray M, Coleman K, Walsh-Bailey C, Girard S, Lozano P. An expanded role for the medical assistant in primary care: evaluating a training pilot. Perm J. 2021 Nov 29;25:20.091. doi: 10.7812/TPP/20.091. PubMed
Buszkiewicz JH, Bobb JF, Kapos F, Hurvitz PM, Arterburn D, Moudon AV, Cook A, Mooney SJ, Cruz M, Gupta S, Lozano P, Rosenberg DE, Theis MK, Anau J, Drewnowski A. Differential associations of the built environment on weight gain by sex and race/ethnicity but not age. Int J Obes (Lond). 2021 Aug 27. doi: 10.1038/s41366-021-00937-9. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
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