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
Finkelstein JA, Lozano P, Streiff KA, Arduino KE, Sisk CA, Wagner EH, Weiss KB, Inui TS. Clinical effectiveness research in managed-care systems: lessons from the pediatric asthma care PORT. Patient Outcomes Research Team. Health Serv Res. 2002;37(3):775-89. PubMed
Finkelstein JA, Lozano P, Farber HJ, Miroshnik I, Lieu TA. Underuse of controller medications among medicaid-insured children with asthma. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2002;156(6):562-7. PubMed
Lieu TA, Lozano P, Finkelstein JA, Chi FW, Jensvold NG, Capra AM, Quesenberry CP, Selby JV, Farber HJ. Racial/ethnic variation in asthma status and management practices among children in managed medicaid. Pediatrics. 2002;109(5):857-65. PubMed
Silverstein M, Iverson L, Lozano P. An English-language clinic-based literacy program is effective for a multilingual population. Pediatrics. 2002;109(5):E76. PubMed
Guevara J, Lozano P, Wickizer T, Mell L, Gephart H. Psychotropic medication use in a population of children who have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Pediatrics. 2002;109(5):733-9. PubMed
Ludman EJ, Curry SJ, Grothaus LC, Graham E, Stout J, Lozano P. Depressive symptoms, stress, and weight concerns among African American and European American low-income female smokers. Psychol Addict Behav. 2002;16(1):68-71. PubMed
Finkelstein JA, Fuhlbrigge A, Lozano P, Grant EN, Shulruff R, Arduino KE, Weiss KB. Parent-reported environmental exposures and environmental control measures for children with asthma. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2002;156(3):258-64. PubMed
Li ST, Lozano P, Grossman DC, Graham E. Hormone-containing hair product use in prepubertal children. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2002;156(1):85-6. PubMed
Guevara J, Lozano P, Wickizer T, Mell L, Gephart H. Utilization and cost of health care services for children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Pediatrics. 2001;108(1):71-8. PubMed
Grupp-Phelan J, Lozano P, Fishman P. Health care utilization and cost in children with asthma and selected conmorbidities. J Asthma. 2001;38(4):363-73. PubMed
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