James Ralston MD, MPH, is an internal medicine physician and senior investigator in health services and health informatics. His research mission is improving the health and care of patients living with common ongoing illnesses. His current areas of emphasis include understanding and honoring the priorities of patients living with multiple chronic conditions.
Dr. Ralston’s research focuses on developing and evaluating communication technologies that foster continuous care and a closer connection between patients and primary care teams. His commitment to finding effective ways to redesign care spans all stages of research, from project development to complete translation of results into clinical practice.
Examples of Dr. Ralston’s research projects include:
Dr. Ralston is also a University of Washington affiliate professor in health services and biomedical informatics, where he serves on the committees of PhD and master’s degree students.
eHealth; hypertension; diabetes
Health informatics; hypertension; diabetes; health behaviors; multiple chronic conditions
Self-management support
Health care disparities
Penfold RB, Thompson EE, Hilt RJ, Kelleher KJ, Schwartz N, Beck A, Clarke G, Ralston JD, Hartzler AL, Coley RY, Akosile M, Vitiello B, Simon GE. Safer Use of Antipsychotics in Youth (SUAY) pragmatic trial protocol. Contemp Clin Trials. 2020 Dec;99:106184. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2020.106184. Epub 2020 Oct 20. PubMed
Makhnoon S, Bowen DJ, Shirts BH, Fullerton SM, Meischke HW, Larson EB, Ralston JD, Leppig K, Crosslin DR, Veenstra D, Jarvik GP. Relationship between genetic knowledge and familial communication of CRC risk and intent to communicate CRCP genetic information: insights from FamilyTalk eMERGE III. Transl Behav Med. 2020 Jun 24:ibaa054. doi: 10.1093/tbm/ibaa054. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Lynch JA, Sharp RR, Aufox SA, Bland ST, Blout C, Bowen DJ, Buchanan AH, Halverson C, Harr M, Hebbring SJ, Henrikson N, Hoell C, Holm IA, Jarvik G, Kullo IJ, Kochan DC, Larson EB, Lazzeri A, Leppig KA, Madden J, Marasa M, Myers MF, Peterson J, Prows CA, Kulchak Rahm A, Ralston J, Milo Rasouly H, Scrol A, Smith ME, Sturm A, Stuttgen K, Wiesner G, Williams MS, Wynn J, Williams JL. Understanding the return of genomic sequencing results process: content review of participant summary letters in the eMERGE Research Network. J Pers Med. 2020;10(2):E38. doi: 10.3390/jpm10020038. PubMed
Wiesner GL, Kulchak Rahm A, Appelbaum P, Aufox S, Bland ST, Blout CL, Christensen KD, Chung WK, Clayton EW, Green RC, Harr MH, Henrikson N, Hoell C, Holm IA, Jarvik GP, Kullo IJ, Lammers PE, Larson EB, Lindor NM, Marasa M, F Myers M, Peterson JF, Prows CA, Ralston JD, Milo Rasouly H, Sharp RR, Smith ME, Van Driest SL, Williams JL, Williams MS, Wynn J, Leppig KA. Returning results in the genomic era: initial experiences of the eMERGE Network. J Pers Med. 2020;10(2). pii: jpm10020030. doi: 10.3390/jpm10020030. PubMed
Schuttner L, Coleman K, Ralston J, Parchman M. The role of organizational learning and resilience for change in building quality improvement capacity in primary care. Health Care Manage Rev. 2021;46(2):E1-E7. doi: 10.1097/HMR.0000000000000281. PubMed
Gordon AS, Rosenthal EA, Carrell DS, Amendola LM, Dorschner MO, Scrol A, Stanaway IB, DeVange S, Ralston JD, Zouk H, Rehm HL, Larson E, Crosslin DR, Leppig KA, Jarvik GP. Rates of actionable genetic findings in individuals with colorectal cancer or polyps ascertained from a community medical setting. Am J Hum Genet. 2019 Sep 5;105(3):526-533. doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2019.07.012. Epub 2019 Aug 15. PubMed
Hartzler AL, Ralston JD, Hannan TA, Kelleher KJ, Penfold RB. Designing safer use of antipsychotics among youths: a human-centered approach to an algorithm-based solution. Psychiatr Serv. 2019 Jul 16:appips201800390. doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.201800390. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Tchesnokova VL, Rechkina E, Chan D, Haile HG, Larson L, Ferrier K, Schroeder DW, Solyanik T, Shibuya S, Hansen K, Ralston JD, Riddell K, Scholes D, Sokurenko EV. Pandemic uropathogenic fluoroquinolone-resistant Escherichia coli have enhanced ability to persist in the gut and cause bacteriuria in healthy women. Clin Infect Dis. 2019 Jul 4. pii: ciz547. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciz547. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Henrikson NB, Blasi PR, Corsmo JJ, Sheffer Serdoz E, Scrol A, Greene SM, Matthews TL, Ralston JD. "You really do have to know the local context": IRB administrators and researchers on the implications of the NIH Single IRB mandate for multisite genomic studies. J Empir Res Hum Res Ethics. 2019 Jul;14(3):286-295. doi: 10.1177/1556264619850440. Epub 2019 May 22. PubMed
Vizer LM, Eschler J, Koo BM, Ralston J, Pratt W, Munson S. "It's not just technology, it's people": constructing a conceptual model of shared health informatics for tracking in chronic illness management. J Med Internet Res. 2019 Apr 29;21(4):e10830. doi: 10.2196/10830. PubMed
Kaiser Permanente researchers develop predictive model to help adults with multiple health conditions.
Newly funded center will elevate equity and community in learning health system research.
Community circulation of ciprofloxacin-resistant E. coli increased after 6-year reduction in antibiotic prescriptions
A new study aims to understand trends in digital care communication among teens.
A new federal rule requiring physicians to give patients access to their notes may be easier to follow than physicians expected.