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
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
Hsu C, Evers S, Ibrahim A, Patricia M, Throne P, Melton M, Marcuse EK, Ali A, Dunn J, Hofstetter AM. Sometimes your heart says 'I don't know': Insights from parents of undervaccinated children. Acad Pediatr. 2022 Oct 10:S1876-2859(22)00526-5. doi: 10.1016/j.acap.2022.10.002. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Researchers in Child & Adolescent Health
 Paula Lozano, MD, MPHSenior Investigator; Director, ACT Center |
 Lisa A. Jackson, MD, MPHSenior Investigator |
 Sascha Dublin, MD, PhDSenior Investigator |
 Rita Mangione-Smith, MD, MPHExecutive Director and Senior Investigator, KPWHRI; Vice President for Research and Health Care Innovation, Kaiser Permanente Washington |
 Robert Penfold, PhDSenior Investigator |
 Rosemary Meza, PhD, MSCollaborative Scientist |
 Annie Hoopes, MD, MPHAssistant Investigator |
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
Research
Some adolescents are more likely to use patient portal than others
A new study aims to understand trends in digital care communication among teens.
Research
How did the pandemic impact hospital visits with animals?
Top pediatric oncology hospitals reported lasting changes to programs involving visits with animals.
New findings
Patient-centered perspectives on teen mental health
Annie Hoopes, MD, MPH, shares insights from an ACT Center study on integrating adolescent mental health in primary care.
Pediatric research
Improving child health and care with quality measures
KPWHRI Executive Director Rita Mangione-Smith, MD, MPH, talks about her research to advance pediatric care
IMPACT Center
Improving mental health care for youth
A new center will support using evidence-based practices in under-resourced settings such as schools.
Behind the scenes
Meeting participants' needs: Our research interventionists
Deborah King and Jessie Waiamau-Ariota describe their pivotal role in research on youth mental health — and more.
news
Screening for adverse childhood experiences
KPWHRI’s Center for Community Health and Evaluation offers 5 recommendations to improve ACEs screens.
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