Evelyn P. Whitlock, MD, MPH, was the Senior Scientific Advisor at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). Prior to this role, Whitlock served as the Chief Science Officer (CSO) between September 2015 and June 2018. As CSO, she oversaw the organization’s scientific activities and research programs, liaised with the Board of Governors and Methodology Committee on behalf of science, and served on the Executive Leadership Team to help represent and coordinate the scientific perspective across all aspects of PCORI.

Prior to joining PCORI, Whitlock spent almost 25 years as a self-funded, public domain researcher and leader at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Oregon. After 15 years as a core staff and associate director of the Oregon Evidence-based Practice Center, she was the founding director of the Kaiser Permanente Evidence-based Practice Center in 2012, with affiliated researchers throughout eight other Kaiser regional research centers, Group Health Research Institute, and HealthPartners in Minnesota. Whitlock provided evidence-based support to the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) for 17 years, directing that work for the last seven years.

Whitlock conducted primary research in women's health and preventive medicine for the first decade of her research career, working on effectiveness and dissemination clinical trials in smoking cessation in health care delivery settings and on trials to improve delivery of recommended screening services to women. She served as medical director adjudicating clinical outcomes and then principal investigator on the Women's Health Initiative Clinical Center in Portland, Oregon. She also conducted observational research using administrative and health system data, including developing a CDC-funded algorithm to detect and define pregnancy episodes in women in the healthcare system in order to study maternal health consequences throughout pregnancy.

Whitlock served more than 10 years on the Leadership Team at the Center for Health Research and developed, directed, and funded a stable team of about 15 dedicated researchers conducting systematic reviews, evidence-based evaluations, and scientific support activities for the USPSTF, for the Agency Healthcare Research and Quality, for the American Psychological Association, and in the past for CDC, NCI, and other clients.

Whitlock received her BA in biology from Indiana University, her MD from Indiana University School of Medicine, and completed two years of her residency in clinical preventive medicine at Loma Linda University, receiving her MPH from Loma Linda School of Public Health. She completed her residency in preventive medicine with a chief resident year in research through Oregon Health Sciences University, and is board certified in general preventive medicine and public health.