EPC Researchers & Staff

  Affiliated Investigators - Kaiser Permanente

Gloria D. Coronado, PhD, Investigator
Dr. Coronado is the Merwyn R. Greenlick Distinguished Investigator in Health Disparities; she designs and evaluates clinic-based interventions to improve participation in cancer care among patients at Latino-serving community health clinics.

Stephen P. Fortmann, MD, Senior Investigator, Assistant Program Director
Dr. Fortmann is an internist and epidemiologist conducting studies of cardiovascular risk factors and disease rates, smoking cessation, health education through the mass media, and exercise and diet change.

Katrina A.B. Goddard, PhD, Senior Investigator
Dr. Goddard is a genetic epidemiologist with a PhD in biostatistics and CHR's Director of Bio-Repositories. Her research focuses on public health genomics and the translation of genetic testing into practice.

Michael K. Gould, MD, MS, Co-investigator
Dr. Gould is a pulmonary and critical care physician with experience using meta-analysis, decision modeling and cost-effectiveness analysis. Dr. Gould has participated in nine systematic reviews across a broad range of conditions, including lung cancer, influenza, and pulmonary fibrosis.

Eric S. Johnson, PhD, Investigator
Dr. Johnson, who has 20 years of experience in the area of pharmacoepidemiology, conducts research describing prognosis in the usual care setting and the prediction of clinical events.

Lawrence H. Kushi, ScD, Co-investigator
Dr. Kushi is a nutritional epidemiologist whose research interests focus on the role of diet and nutrition in the etiology of coronary artery disease and breast and other cancers. Dr. Kushi is the associate director for Etiology and Prevention Research at the KP Northern California Division of Research.

Erin S. LeBlanc, MD, Investigator
Dr. LeBlanc is an epidemiologist and board-certified adult endocrinologist specializing in women’s health research.

Frances L. Lynch, PhD, Senior Investigator
Dr. Lynch is a health economist with a focus on the organization and financing of care for people with mental health and substance abuse problems.

Richard T. Meenan, PhD, Senior Investigator, Science Director
Dr. Meenan is a health economist who studies methods of economic evaluation of health care interventions, such as decision modeling and return on investment analysis

Elizabeth A. McGlynn, PhD, Director CESR
Dr. McGlynn is a health-care quality researcher and internationally known expert on evaluating health care delivery. She is the director of the Center for Effectiveness & Safety Research (CESR), leveraging Kaiser Permanente’s research infrastructure and integrated health care system to study the effectiveness and safety of new drugs, devices, and therapeutic practices. Prior to her current appointment, Dr. McGlynn held the RAND Distinguished Chair in Health Care Quality.

Joy A. Melnikow, MD, MPH, Clinical Investigator
Dr. Melnikow, a former USPSTF member, oversees the Center for Healthcare Policy and Research at University of California at Davis where she fosters the development of patient-centered outcomes research, comparative effectiveness research, and health policy research.

Richard A. Mularski, MD, Investigator
Dr. Mularski is board-certified in pulmonary, critical care, and palliative medicine; he has expertise in quality improvement, translating research into practice, and implementing evidence-based medicine.

Susan L. Norris, MD, MPH, MSc, Clinical Investigator
Dr. Norris is a surgeon, family physician, and highly experienced systematic reviewer and methodologist, having previously conducted reviews for the USPSTF and many other guideline developers. She is the principal investigator on NIH's study of conflict of interest in clinical practice guideline development.

David H. Smith, RPH, PhD, Investigator
Dr. Smith conducts research on the economic evaluation of medical interventions and pharmacoepidemiology.

Kimberly K. Vesco, MD, Investigator
Dr. Vesco is a board-certified Obstetrician-Gynecologist and Kaiser Permanente physician with more than a decade of clinical experience caring for normal and high-risk pregnancies.

Affiliated Investigators - Group Health Research Institute (GHRI)

Diana S.M. Buist, PhD is an epidemiologist and health services researcher whose work focuses on early detection of cancer, most recently co-leading the USPSTF review on aspirin for prevention of colorectal cancer.

Jessica Chubak, PhD, is an epidemiologist working on cancer screening and survivorship. She is currently leading the USPSTF reviews on aspirin for prevention of colorectal cancer and thyroid cancer screening.

John B. Dunn, MD, MPH, is a pediatrician and co-chair of immunization practices at Group Health Cooperative. He is co-leading the USPSTF review on screening for dyslipidemia in children.

Nora B. Henrikson, PhD, is a geneticist and epidemiologist whose research focuses on the influences of health policy and costs on patient choices and experiences of clinical care. Dr. Henrikson has conducted reviews on genetic services, low-back pain, and nearly a dozen health technology assessments.

Eric B. Larson, MD, MPH, is an internal medicine physician whose research ranges from clinical interests, such as Alzheimer's disease and genomics, to health services research involving technology assessment, cost-effectiveness analysis, and quality improvement. Dr. Larson is GHRI’s executive director.

Paula Lozano, MD, MPH, is a pediatrician who is co-leading two USPSTF reviews on screening for dyslipidemia in children and childhood overweight.

Bruce M. Psaty, MD, PhD, MPH, is a general internist whose research focuses on cardiovascular epidemiology, hypertension, diabetes, epidemiological methods, meta-analyses, drug safety, pharmacoepidemiology, genetics, genomics, and pharmacogenetics. In addition to dozens of meta-analyses Dr. Psaty has conducted systematic reviews on statins and intracerebral hemorrhage and progesterone and progestins' relationship with cardiovascular disease in women.

Gregory E. Simon, MD, MPH, is psychiatrist who researches mental health, obesity, health plan coverage for antidepressants, the impact of mood disorders in the workplace, and suicide risk. Dr. Simon is an associate editor in Cochrane Collaboration Depression and Anxiety Group, with a systematic review on adherence.

Karen J. Wernli, PhD, is an epidemiologist focusing on women's health and cancer at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. She is currently leading the USPSTF review on skin cancer screening.

Affiliated Investigators - HealthPartners Institute for Education and Research

Steven P. Dehmer, PhD, is an economist who develops microsimulation models for the USPSTF and for health policy studies funded by the CDC, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the American Heart Association.

Michael V. Maciosek, PhD, is a senior research investigator and health economist with a long history of policy-relevant economic analysis and emphasis on prevention. He leads the analytic team that systematically evaluates the health impact and cost-effectiveness of preventive services for the National Commission on Prevention Priorities to help decision makers choose where to focus efforts to improve healthcare quality and efficiency.

Emily D. Parker, MPH, PhD, is a statistician-epidemiologist focused in prospective and retrospective observational studies. She conducts evidence reviews for the Institute of Clinical Systems Improvement.

Rebecca C. Rossom, MD, MSCR, is a geriatric psychiatrist and a clinical research associate with HealthPartners Institute for Education and Research who has conducted systematic reviews in the area of dementia, depression, and other mental health disorders.