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
Grow HM, Cook AJ, Arterburn DE, Saelens BE, Drewnowski A, Lozano P. Child obesity associated with social disadvantage of children's neighborhoods. Soc Sci Med. 2010 Aug;71(3):584-91. Epub 2010 May 12. PubMed
Sathyanarayana S, Basso O, Karr CJ, Lozano P, Alavanja M, Sandler DP, Hoppin JA. Maternal pesticide use and birth weight in the Agricultural Health Study. J Agromedicine. 2010 Apr;15(2):127-36. PubMed
Richardson LP, Russo JE, Lozano P, McCauley E, Katon W. Factors associated with detection and receipt of treatment for youth with depression and anxiety disorders. Acad Pediatr. 2010;10(1):36-40. PubMed
Tarini BA, Lozano P, Christakis DA. Afraid in the hospital: parental concern for errors during a child's hospitalization. J Hosp Med. 2009;4(9):521-7. Epub 2009 Aug 3. PubMed
Moreno M, Breuner CC, Lozano P. Provocative questions in parochial sex education classes: higher incidence in younger students. J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol. 2008;21(5):259-64. PubMed
Richardson LP, Russo JE, Lozano P, McCauley E, Katon W. The effect of comorbid anxiety and depressive disorders on health care utilization and costs among adolescents with asthma. Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 2008;30(5):398-406. Epub 2008 Aug 3. PubMed
Bennett AV, Lozano P, Richardson LP, McCauley E, Katon WJ. Identifying high-risk asthma with utilization data: a revised HEDIS definition. Am J Manag Care. 2008;14(7):450-6. PubMed
Fuhlbrigge A, Carey VJ, Finkelstein JA, Lozano P, Inui TS, Weiss KB. Are performance measures based on automated medical records valid for physician/practice profiling of asthma care? Med Care. 2008;46(6):620-6. PubMed
Katon W, Russo J, Richardson L, McCauley E, Lozano P. Anxiety and depression screening for youth in a primary care population. Ambul Pediatr. 2008;8(3):182-8. Epub 2008 Apr 11. PubMed
Sathyanarayana S, Karr CJ, Lozano P, Brown E, Calafat AM, Liu F, Swan SH. Baby care products: possible sources of infant phthalate exposure. Pediatrics. 2008;121(2):e260-8. PubMed
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