About

About Our Center

Founded in 1964, the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research (CHR) is a single research center in the Northwest region.

With 41 investigators, 243 staff members, and annual revenues of nearly $45 million, we pursue a vigorous agenda of public health research within large, diverse populations. Most of our funding comes from federal grants and contracts. We also receive support from Kaiser Permanente’s Community Benefit Initiative, private foundations, and industry.

Our research scientists are a highly diverse and skilled group with specialties ranging from psychology to anthropology to economics to epidemiology. Centralized departments provide the infrastructure and expertise necessary to support our investigators as they write grant proposals, conduct studies, analyze data, and publish their findings.

Our close affiliation with the Kaiser Permanente delivery system allows us to conduct studies with real patients and health care providers in real-life settings. KP Northwest enrolls more than 500,000 health plan members and 200,000 dental members in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Our sister research site in Honolulu—affiliated with the Hawaii region of KP—adds significantly to the diversity of our member pool, with 244,000 additional multi-ethnic members. In addition, we cultivate strong working partnerships with academic institutions, community organizations, and other health systems.

Capabilities

Scientists at the Center are supported by robust internal resources and teams with deep expertise in multiple disciplines.

  • Biostatistics

    The CHR Biostatistics Core provides technical expertise, programming support, and consultation to research projects on study design, data management, and data analysis.

  • Clinical Research Support Services

    Clinical Research Support Services (CRSS) provides experienced research administration, implementation, and coordination of clinical trials conducted in the Kaiser Permanente Northwest (KPNW) care delivery system and at the CHR Research Clinic.

  • Data Resources & Expertise

    Our research is distinguished by our extraordinary data resources and the expertise to mine that data for answers to the most pressing questions in health care.

  • Evidence-based Practice Center

    The Kaiser Permanente Research Affiliates EPC involves over 75 researchers from three integrated health care delivery systems: Kaiser Permanente, Group Health Research Institute, and HealthPartners Institute for Education and Research.

  • Qualitative Research

    Qualitative research helps us understand the nuances of health care delivery and how those nuances interact to influence outcomes.

Our People

Our investigators and research staff come to the Center with diverse backgrounds, a wide spectrum of skills and talents, and a shared passion for the cause of improving health through science.

CHR staff at an all-center meeting.

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