Katie Coleman, MSPH, has been named the new director of the MacColl Center for Health Care Innovation at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI.)

“Katie brings a tremendous vision and high level of commitment to this leadership position,” said Rita Mangione-Smith, MD, MPH, KPWHRI executive director and Kaiser Permanente Washington vice president for research and health care innovation. “She has the perfect background to support the MacColl Center’s next phase of development as a national leader in care innovation and implementation science.”

Katie currently leads the Kaiser Permanente Washington Learning Health System Program, which connects KPWHRI researchers to delivery system needs and priorities. As program leader, she has been helping to guide collaborations between researchers and partners in the Kaiser Permanente delivery system to discover new ways to improve services and member health. Katie is the Kaiser Permanente principal investigator for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Delta Center for a Thriving Safety Net initiative, a national collaboration to advance value-based payment and care. Her other work includes being part of the MacColl Center team on the Safety Net Medical Home Initiative, supported by the Commonwealth Fund to improve care in 65 community health centers in five states.

Katie joined the MacColl Center team in 2006 as a research associate. She earned a bachelor’s degree in social policy, concentrating on health policy, from Northwestern University and a master’s degree in health policy and administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. For five years, she coordinated and managed development at Access Community Health Network in Chicago, which is one of the nation’s largest network of community health centers. This work shaped Katie’s approach to providing practical, research-based solutions to health care system challenges.

“It is a privilege and pleasure to have the opportunity  to build on the MacColl Center’s body of ground-breaking work in primary care and to bring forward new partnerships and methodologies to improve health and health care for all,” said Katie. 

Congratulations, Katie!