Ambassador

Kara Kikuchi

Huntsman Cancer Intstitute - Staff Member

Years Involved in Patient Centered Research: 0-2 years
State: Utah
Stakeholder Type: Researcher

Kara Kikuchi serves as a community liaison between scientists and community health systems and organizations in Utah, Montana, Nevada, Idaho, and Wyoming to support engagement in community-based research emphasizing health equity, as well as translational and implementation science projects. For the QuitSMART Utah project, Kara and her team partner with FQHCs, Association for Utah Community Health (Utah's Primary Care Association), Utah Department of Health, and National Jewish Health. She has also worked to build similar partnerships in the other Mountain West states noted earlier. Kara believes that supporting community partner needs translates to reaching those members of the community who need quality health care the most. she has previous experience managing health systems change projects to address public health initiatives with FQHCs and rural health clinics with the goal of addressing health disparities. She earned my Doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine and was a licensed primary care provider in Washington state prior to moving to Utah. All of Kara’s healthcare, quality improvement, and research project experience is grounded in patient-centered care, so participating as a PCORI Ambassador is a natural extension of her work. In parallel to the community engagement she is doing now, Kara is interested in bridging researchers and communities to PCORI, as well as disseminating PCORI research findings to promote patient-centered research.

Involvement with PCORI

Research Awards: Connecting Low-Income Tobacco Users with a Telephone Quitline to Help Them Quit - Community Liaison

Ambassador Interests

Health Conditions Health Conditions These are the broad terms we use to categorize our funded research studies; specific diseases or conditions are included within the appropriate larger category. Note: not all of our funded projects focus on a single disease or condition; some touch on multiple diseases or conditions, research methods, or broader health system interventions. Such projects won’t be listed by a primary disease/condition and so won’t appear if you use this filter tool to find them. View Glossary
Populations Populations PCORI is interested in research that seeks to better understand how different clinical and health system options work for different people. These populations are frequently studied in our portfolio or identified as being of interest by our stakeholders. View Glossary
Research Phases
Stakeholder Types
State State The state where the project originates, or where the primary institution or organization is located. View Glossary

Send a request to connect with Kara Kikuchi

PCORI would like to facilitate connections among PCORI Ambassadors and between PCORI Ambassadors and other stakeholders to partner on research projects, engagement initiatives, speaking opportunities and other patient-centered research activities. If you would like to connect with the above-listed PCORI Ambassador, please send a request using the form below.
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