+ You

Thank you for your continued participation

I’ve been the director of the Kaiser Permanente Research Bank for 3 years now. One of the main reasons I chose to continue my career at Kaiser Permanente is its decades-long integration of health care delivery and research — a pairing that positions Kaiser Permanente to be a leader in both fields.

A recent article on the KP member website highlights the important contributions of Research Bank participants — contributions that will help drive improvements in healthcare.

The article also notes that Kaiser Permanente began collecting health data for research from members as far back as 1961. This longstanding practice forms the framework for the Research Bank to conduct health research across a broad range of conditions and diseases.

In this edition of the newsletter, we provide an update on one of the Research Bank’s key components: the National Community Advisory Board (NCAB). NCAB members are Kaiser Permanente members from across the country who have been true partners in helping Research Bank leaders and scientists understand community concerns about participating in research — and how we can be most responsive to these issues.

Given how rapidly health science is advancing, we also provide a review in this newsletter of the similarities and differences of genetics and genomics, including how they’re related, and the types of knowledge each field provides.

As always, this newsletter features summaries of recently approved and funded studies that will utilize Research Bank data.

Thank you for your participation and ongoing support. Best wishes for 2026 to you and your families.