Dr. McGlynn is Senior Vice President for Research & Quality Measurement, Executive Director of the Kaiser Permanente (KP) Center for Effectiveness & Safety Research (CESR), and a professor of Health Systems Science in the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine. Dr. McGlynn is responsible for integrating clinical research and quality measurement systems, and elevating research as an organizational asset to connect quality outcomes with research tools and findings, strengthening KP’s evidence-based approach to care delivery. The alignment and integration of research and quality measurement strengthens KP’s capacity to adopt, develop, and implement quality metrics that are consistent with strategic goals. She also provides program-wide leadership for research at KP, coordinating the development and implementation of a national research strategy. She oversees and supports research administration, provides strategic direction for KP’s national biobank and for the quality data and analytics group, represents and communicates about KP research internally and externally, and works with national and regional leadership to promote research findings and translate them into improved care for KP members and improved health in the communities KP serves.
Dr. McGlynn is an internationally recognized expert on methods for evaluating the appropriateness and quality of health care delivery. She is probably best known for a study published in 2003 in the New England Journal of Medicine that found American adults received just 55% of recommended care for the leading causes of death and disability. She also led major initiatives to evaluate health reform options under consideration at the federal and state levels including leading the development of RAND’s COMPARE Initiative. Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente in 2011, Dr. McGlynn was Associate Director of RAND Health and held the RAND Distinguished Chair in Health Care Quality. She received AcademyHealth’s Distinguished Investigator Award in 2012 and AcademyHealth’s Article of the Year Award in 2004. She received the RAND President’s Award in 1996 and 2000.
Dr. McGlynn was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2005 and currently serves as Chair of Section 12. She serves on the editorial boards of JAMA and Health Services Research and is the former chair of the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation Board of Trustees and of the National Advisory Council for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.Dr. McGlynn received her bachelor’s degree in international political economy from The Colorado College, her master’s degree in public policy from the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, and her doctorate in public policy analysis from the Pardee RAND Graduate School.