Founded in 1964, the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research (CHR) has maintained a robust program of public health research for more than 60 years.
With 32 investigators, 175 staff members, and annual revenues of more than $50 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 Health, private foundations, and industry.
Our research scientists are a highly diverse and skilled group with specialties including psychology, anthropology, population health, prevention, health economics, and 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 situation within the Kaiser Permanente Northwest health care system allows us to conduct studies with real patients and health care providers in real-life settings. KP Northwest enrolls more than 600,000 health plan members and 200,000 dental members in Oregon and Southwest Washington. In addition, we cultivate strong working partnerships with research units in seven other Kaiser Permanente regions, academic institutions, community organizations, and other health systems, including those in the Health Care Systems Research Network.