Karen J. Wernli, PhD

“I consider patients the core of my research.”

Karen J. Wernli, PhD

Senior Scientific Investigator, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute
Professor, Department of Health System Science, Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine
Affiliate Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Department of Health Systems and Population Health, University of Washington

Karen.J.Wernli@kp.org
206-287-2934
Twitter: @wernlikarenj

Curriculum vitae (CV)

Biography

Karen Wernli, PhD, is a cancer epidemiologist and health services researcher whose work focuses on incorporating patient-centered outcomes to improve care along the cancer care continuum, from prevention to survivorship. Her work spans several cancer types, including lung, breast, and colorectal, and also explores the impact of cancer in special populations, such as adolescents and young adults. Her research strives to answer critical questions at the confluence of patients’ needs and clinical priorities. Overall, her research has resulted in more than $38 million in research funding, more than 170 peer-reviewed publications (h-index 42), and over 85 presentations at national conferences, symposia, and other public venues.

Dr. Wernli is a leader in lung cancer screening research. She is currently conducting a pragmatic clinical trial funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to test 2 multilevel interventions to improve adherence to annual lung cancer screening at Kaiser Permanente Washington. Study interventions were developed using a mixed-methods approach — including patient and stakeholder engagement and human-centered design methods — to determine gaps for interventions, relevant features of interventions, and design concepts. Dr. Wernli is also leading NCI-funded research in expanding lung cancer screening in federally-qualified healthcare systems through the National Cancer Institute SUMMIT Initiative.

Dr. Wernli is a leader in the use of breast imaging in women with prior breast cancer, including in the use of breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Dr. Wernli recently completed a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) project that compared breast MRI to mammography for women already treated for breast cancer. Called Surveillance Imaging Modalities for Breast Cancer Assessment (SIMBA), the study used data from the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium (BCSC) and engaged patients and stakeholders to determine the best information for patient and physician decision-making. Dr. Wernli’s team translated that information into a new decision aid for breast cancer survivors. PCORI has recognized this work nationally and pointed to SIMBA as a model for effective patient engagement.

Dr. Wernli is leading patient-centered research in adolescent and young adult (AYA) populations. She is a project co-lead with Kaiser Permanente Southern California researcher Erin Hahn, PhD, MPH, and Veterans Affairs researcher Neetu Chawla, PhD, MPH, in an NCI-funded project to evaluate health service utilization in early survivorship for AYA populations. The research is intended to identify multilevel gaps in health care utilization in AYA early-cancer survivors for forthcoming interventions.

Finally, Dr. Wernli also leads clinical research studies beyond oncology. She is principal investigator of a multisite study of flu and COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2022 to 2027. Her study team annually enrolls about 1,200 participants with flu-like symptoms into her research.

Dr. Wernli is a member of the American Society for Preventive Oncology, the Society for Epidemiologic Research, the American Society for Clinical Oncology, and the American Association for Cancer Research. She is an affiliate professor of epidemiology and health systems and population health at the University of Washington and a professor of health system science at the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine.

Research interests and experience

Cancer

Breast, lung, colorectal, ovarian, skin, and endometrial cancer; screening and surveillance; survivorship; patient-centered care; biostatistics; low-dose CT (LDCT); mammography; surveillance imaging; breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); systematic reviews; multilevel intervention studies; pragmatic clinical trials
Health Services & Economics

Comparative effectiveness research, health outcomes research, patient-centered outcomes, health care quality, implementation science

Preventive Medicine

Cancer screening and surveillance
Patient-Centeredness

Patient engagement, stakeholder engagement, qualitative research methods, mixed-methods, human-centered design
Vaccines & Infectious Diseases
Aging & Geriatrics

Recent publications

Vasavada A, Palazzo L, Luce C, Sanchez M, Triplette M, Ralston JD, Carter-Bawa L, Green BB, Gao H, Li CI, Anderson ML, Su YR, Rogers K, Wernli KJ "It's coming whether we want it to or not": A qualitative exploration of older adults' comfort with and perceptions of technology and digital health 2025 Nov 19 doi: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8001649/v1. Epub 2025-11-19. PubMed

Chung JR, Price AM, Zimmerman RK, Moehling Geffel K, House SL, Curley T, Wernli KJ, Phillips CH, Martin ET, Vaughn IA, Murugan V, Scotch M, Saade EA, Faryar KA, Gaglani M, Ramm JD, Williams OL, Walter EB, Kirby MK, Keong LM, Kondor R, Ellington SR, Flannery B Influenza vaccine effectiveness against medically attended outpatient illness, United States, 2023-24 season 2025 Nov 6;81(4):e184-e191 doi:10.1093/cid/ciae658. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciae658. Epub 2025-01-06. PubMed

Parker K, Heneghan MB, Li QW, Brunson A, Ou J, Kaddas HK, Abrahão R, Chubak J, Wernli KJ, Zebrack B, Hahn EE, Kushi LH, Nichols HB, Keegan T, Kirchhoff AC Identifying clustering in patterns of late effects among survivors of adolescent and young adult hodgkin lymphoma 2025 Nov 3;9(6) doi:10.1093/jncics/pkaf094. doi: 10.1093/jncics/pkaf094. Epub 2025-10-01. PubMed

Carter-Bawa L, Lafata JE, Slaven JE, Monahan PO, Vielma AG, Wernli KJ, Brandzel S, Gao H, Rawl SM Navigating shared decision-making in lung cancer screening: Insights into barriers, training, and referral propensity among clinicians 2025 Nov;140:109303. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2025.109303. Epub 2025-08-08. PubMed

Williams OL, Bontrager NAB, Saade EA, Canaday D, Murugan V, Nordstrom L, Martin ET, Wernli KJ, Nguyen M, House SL, Curley T, Nowalk MP, Geffel KM, Gaglani M, McNeal T, Price AM, Chung JR, Shirk P, Link-Gelles R, Ciesla AA, Sheth M, Cook PW, Flannery B, Walter EB SARS-CoV-2 Infection During a Period of XBB Lineage Predominance: Associations with Ancestral and BA.4/5 Bivalent COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine among Outpatient Adults in the United States 2025 Sep 3; https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.540772. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.5407724. PubMed

Frutos AM, Cleary S, Reeves EL, Ahmad HM, Price AM, Self WH, Zhu Y, Safdar B, Peltan ID, Gibbs KW, Exline MC, Lauring AS, Ball SW, DeSilva M, Tartof SY, Dascomb K, Irving SA, Klein NP, Dixon BE, Ong TC, Vaughn IA, House SL, Faryar KA, Nowalk MP, Gaglani M, Wernli KJ, Murugan V, Williams OL, Selvarangan R, Weinberg GA, Staat MA, Halasa NB, Sahni LC, Michaels MG, Englund JA, Kirby MK, Surie D, Dawood FS, Clopper BR, Moline HL, Link-Gelles R, Payne AB, Harker E, Wielgosz K, Weber ZA, Yang DH, Lewis NM, DeCuir J, Olson SM, Chung JR, Flannery B, Grohskopf LA, Reed C, Garg S, Ellington S, CDC Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness Collaborators Interim Estimates of 2024-2025 Seasonal Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness - Four Vaccine Effectiveness Networks, United States, October 2024-February 2025 2025 Feb 27;74(6):83-90. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm7406a2. Epub 2025-02-27. PubMed

Bi Q, Dickerman BA, Nguyen HQ, Martin ET, Gaglani M, Wernli KJ, Balasubramani GK, Flannery B, Lipsitch M, Cobey S, US Flu Vaccine Effectiveness Network Investigators Reduced effectiveness of repeat influenza vaccination: distinguishing among within-season waning, recent clinical infection, and subclinical infection 2024 Dec 16;230(6):1309-1318. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiae220. Epub 2024-04-30. PubMed

Lee JM, Ichikawa LE, Kerlikowske K, Buist DSM, Lee CI, Sprague BL, Henderson LM, Onega T, Wernli KJ, Lowry KP, Stout NK, Tosteson ANA, Miglioretti DL Relative timing of mammography and MRI for breast cancer screening: Impact on performance evaluation 2024 Nov;21(11):1722-1732. doi: 10.1016/j.jacr.2024.06.020. Epub 2024-07-03. PubMed

Chung JR, Price AM, Zimmerman RK, Geffel KM, House SL, Curley T, Wernli KJ, Phillips CH, Martin ET, Vaughn IA, Murugan V, Scotch M, Saade EA, Faryar KA, Gaglani M, Ramm JD, Williams OL, Walter EB, Kirby M, Keong LM, Kondor R, Ellington SR, Flannery B, US Flu VE Network Investigators Influenza vaccine effectiveness against medically attended outpatient illness, United States, 2023-24 season 2024 Oct 30 doi: 10.1101/2024.10.29.24316377. Epub 2024-10-30. PubMed

Wernli KJ, Haupt EC, Chawla N, Osuji T, Shen E, Smitherman AB, Casperson M, Kirchhoff AC, Zebrack BJ, Keegan THM, Kushi L, Baggett C, Kaddas HK, Ruddy KJ, Sauder CAM, Wun T, Figueroa Gray M, Chubak J, Nichols H, Hahn EE Emergency Department Use in Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Early Survivors from 2006 to 2020 2024 Oct;13(5):738-747. doi: 10.1089/jayao.2023.0174. Epub 2024-04-29. PubMed