Child & Adolescent Health

“Kids have so much potential. How can we optimize their health?”

Rita Mangione-Smith, MD, MPH
Vice President for Research and Health Care Innovation
Executive Director of Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute
Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute Senior Investigator

 

Research overview

Babies, children, and teens have specific health needs. Research and evaluation at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) covers family health from pregnancy through childhood and early adulthood.

KPWHRI research and evaluation topics in child and adolescent health include:

  • drug safety during pregnancy
  • pediatric care quality in health systems
  • quality of care for respiratory illnesses
  • care and transitions for hospitalized children
  • implementation of screening for adverse childhood experiences
  • quality of youth mental health care
  • programs to support trauma and resilience-informed care for youth
  • impact of social determinants of health
  • disease prevention through vaccines

“We’re working with families, helping them make healthy eating, exercise, and preventive care part of their busy daily lives,” says Paula Lozano, MD, MPH, Washington Permanente Medical Group associate medical director for research and translation, KPWHRI senior investigator, and Washington Permanente Medical Group pediatrician.​​​​​​

Recent publications on Child & Adolescent Health

Desai AD, Tolpadi A, Parast L, Esporas M, Britto MT, Gidengil C, Wilson K, Bardach NS, Basco WT, Brittan MS, Johnson DP, Wood KE, Yung S, Dawley E, Fiore D, Gregoire L, Hodo LN, Leggett B, Piazza K, Sartori LF, Weber DE, Mangione-Smith R. Improving the quality of written discharge instructions: A multisite collaborative project. Pediatrics. 2023 May 1;151(5);e2022059452. doi: 10.1542/peds.2022-059452. PubMed

Nichols H, Wernli KJ, Chawla N, O’Meara ES, Figueroa Gray M, Green LE, Baggett CD, Casperson M, Chao C, Jones SM, Kirchhoff AC, Kuo T, Lee C , Malogolowkin M, Quesenberry CP, Ruddy KJ, Wun T, Zebrack B, Chubak J, Hahn EE, Keegan TH, Kushi LH. Challenges and opportunities of epidemiological studies to reduce the burden of cancers in young adults. Curr Epidemiol Rep. 2023 Sep;10(3):115-124. doi: 10.1007/s40471-022-00286-9. Epub 2022 Mar 29. PubMed

Hood N, Flannery B, Gaglani M, Beeram M, Wernli K, Jackson ML, Martin ET, Monto AS, Zimmerman R, Raviotta J, Belongia EA, McLean HQ, Kim S, Patel M, Chung J. Influenza vaccine effectiveness among children: 2011-2020. Pediatrics. 2023 Mar 24;e2022059922. doi: 10.1542/peds.2022-059922. Online ahead of print. PubMed

Negriff S, Lynch FL, Cronkite DJ, Pardee RE, Penfold RB. Using natural language processing to identify child maltreatment in health systems.  Child Abuse Negl. 2023 Apr;138:106090. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106090. Epub 2023 Feb 8. PubMed

Meza RD, AlRasheed R, Pullmann MD, Dorsey S. Clinical supervision approach predicts evidence-based trauma treatment delivery in children's mental health. Front Psychiatry. 2023 Jan 9;13:1072844. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1072844. eCollection 2022. PubMed

Researchers in Child & Adolescent Health

Paula Lozano, MD, MPH

Senior Investigator; Director, ACT Center
206-287-2113
Paula.Lozano@kp.org

Curriculum vitae (CV)

Lisa A. Jackson, MD, MPH

Senior Investigator
Lisa.A.Jackson@kp.org

Curriculum vitae (CV)

Sascha Dublin, MD, PhD

Senior Investigator
206-287-2870
Sascha.Dublin@kp.org

Curriculum vitae (CV)

Rita Mangione-Smith, MD, MPH

Executive Director and Senior Investigator, KPWHRI; Vice President for Research and Health Care Innovation, Kaiser Permanente Washington
206-287-2988
Rita.M.Mangione-Smith@kp.org

Curriculum vitae (CV)

Robert Penfold, PhD

Senior Investigator
206-287-2232
Robert.B.Penfold@kp.org

Curriculum vitae (CV)

Rosemary Meza, PhD, MS

Collaborative Scientist
Rosemary.X1.Meza@kp.org

Curriculum vitae (CV)

Annie Hoopes, MD, MPH

Acting Assistant Investigator
Andrea.J1.Hoopes@kp.org

Curriculum vitae (CV)



adjunct and Affiliate researchers

John Dunn, MD, MPH
Pediatrician
Washington Permanente Medical Group
Medical Director of Preventive Care
Kaiser Permanente Washington

Gina Sucato, MD, MPH
Director of Adolescent Health Services
Washington Permanente Medical Group

Doug Opel, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics 
University of Washington

Laura P. Richardson, MD, MPH
Adolescent Medicine
Seattle Children's Hospital
Professor, Department of Pediatrics
University of Washington