Welcoming LHS E-STAR Cohort 3 scholars

New E-STAR Scholars lead projects with CHAS Health, HealthPoint, and Kaiser Permanente Washington

By Sunday Brush, research coordinator for the Center for Accelerating Care Transformation (ACT Center) and the Washington Learning Health System Embedded Scientist Training and Research (LHS E STAR) Center

The Washington Learning Health System Embedded Scientist Training and Research (LHS E-STAR) Center is excited to welcome its third cohort of scholars and launch new projects with Community Health Association of Spokane (CHAS Health) and HealthPoint. Together, these collaborations bring research into real-world care settings to address pressing challenges in primary care and population health.

This year’s scholars—Jonathan Staloff, Rosemary Meza, Meagan Brown, and Morgan Justice—will lead projects developed in close partnership with health systems to improve care delivery and health outcomes.

Jonathan “Jon” Staloff, MD, MSc will partner with CHAS Health to validate and refine a risk prediction model designed to support more equitable population health management. A family medicine physician and health services researcher at the University of Washington, Jon’s work centers on improving quality, access, and performance in primary care.

Rosemary Meza, PhD, MS and Meagan Brown, PhD, MPH will co‑lead a project with HealthPoint to better understand why some Medicaid patients are not consistently engaged in primary care—and to identify practical strategies to support sustained engagement. Their work brings together expertise in mental health, health equity, and implementation science, with a shared focus on community-engaged and sustainable solutions.

Morgan Justice, PhD, MA will lead a project with Kaiser Permanente Washington to improve uptake of annual flu vaccination. This work builds on a project initiated by Cohort 2 scholar Lily Shapiro and continues efforts to increase preventive care through evidence-based implementation strategies.

These partnerships reflect the core mission of LHS E-STAR: to train early-career scientists to lead learning health system research that is responsive to the priorities of health systems and the communities they serve.

"The E-STAR Center's partnership model is uniquely focused on responding to priorities of health systems and the communities they serve,” said Paula Lozano, MD, MPH, who co-leads the center with James Ralston, MD, MPH.  “I continue to be impressed with the quality of partnerships in the E-STAR Center. Our third cohort of scholars are bringing expertise to their partnerships with CHAS, HealthPoint, and Kaiser Permanente Washington."

The LHS E-STAR Center is led by Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute and the University of Washington. Mentors from both organizations support scholars throughout the program, while the ACT Center provides learning health system research expertise and infrastructure. Together, these efforts help translate research into action and support meaningful, sustainable improvements in care.

We look forward to seeing the impact that our Cohort 3 scholars will have through the research they lead and the partnerships they build.

Learn more on the Washington LHS E‑STAR website.