Nora Henrikson, PhD, MPH

Nora Henrikson

"I believe that our members are the key to helping us know how to deliver the best care possible."

Nora Henrikson, PhD, MPH

Associate Investigator, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute
Associate Professor, Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine, Department of Health Systems Science
Affiliate Associate Professor, University of Washington School of Public Health, Department of Health Systems and Population Health, and Institute for Public Health Genetics

Biography

Nora Henrikson (she/her) is an associate investigator at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute. She leads a research portfolio focused on interventions to improve cancer care delivery, health equity, and patient outcomes.

Her current research explores methods for improving risk notification and cascading genetic testing for family members of people with hereditary cancers as well as interventions to mitigate cancer-related financial hardship. Dr. Henrikson also leads systematic evidence reviews on cancer screening and behavioral counseling with the Kaiser Permanente Evidence-based Practice Center.  

Dr. Henrikson holds affiliate faculty appointments at the University of Washington School of Public Health in the Department of Health Systems and Population Health, and the Institute for Public Health Genetics. She is also an associate professor at the Bernard J. Tyson Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine.

She has a PhD from the University of Washington School of Public Health’s Institute for Public Health Genetics, an MPH from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a BA (sociology) from Lehigh University.

RESEARCH INTERESTS AND EXPERIENCE

  • Cancer

    Genetic testing for cancer risk, cancer-related financial hardship

  • Social Determinants of Health

    Financial hardship, health equity

  • Health Services & Economics

    Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods; intervention design; implementation science

  • Preventive Medicine

  • Evidence-Based Practice

    Systematic review and evidence synthesis; epidemiology

  • Public Health Genetics

    Social, ethical, and policy implications of genomics and precision health

Recent publications

Leppig KA, Rahm AK, Appelbaum P, Aufox S, Bland ST, Buchanan A, Christensen KD, Chung WK, Wright-Clayton E, Crosslin D, Denny J, DeVange S, Gordon A, Green RC, Hakonarson H, Harr MH, Henrikson NB, Hoell C, Holm IA, Kullo IJ, Jarvik GP, Lammers PE, Larson EB, Lindor NM, Marasa M, Myer MF, Perez E, Peterson JF, Pratap S, Prows CA, Ralston JD, Rasouly HM, Roden DM, Sharp RR, Singh R, Shaibi G, Smith ME, Sturm A, Thiese HA, Van Driest SL, Williams J, Williams MS, Wynn J, Zawatsky CL, Weisner GL. The reckoning: the return of genomic results to 1444 participants across the eMERGE3 Network. Genet Med. 2022 May;24(5):1130-1138. doi: 10.1016/j.gim.2022.01.015. Epub 2022 Feb 23. PubMed

Moldestad M, Sayre G, Rinne S, Kaboli PJ, Reddy A, Sanders KM, Mao J, Henrikson NB, Sterling R, Nelson KM, Wong ES. Perspectives on training and working in the VHA: implications for primary care physician recruitment and retention. Acad Med. 2022 Feb 8. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000004619. Online ahead of print. PubMed

Kelly BJ, Leader AE, Henrikson NB. Editorial: Promising strategies for vaccine messages: the message and the source. Front Public Health. 2022 Aug 31;10:971283. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.971283. eCollection 2022.  PubMed

Haas CB, Ralston J, Fullerton SM, Scrol A, Henrikson NB. Environmental scan of family chart linking for genetic cascade screening in a U.S. integrated health system.  Front Genet. 2022 Aug 11;13:886650. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2022.886650. eCollection 2022.  PubMed

Kauffman TL, Prado YK, Reyes AA, Zepp JM, Sawyer J, White LL, Martucci J, Salas SB, Vertrees S, Rope AF, Weinmann S, Henrikson NB, Lee SS, Feigelson HS, Hunter JE. Feasibility of a traceback approach for using pathology specimens to facilitate genetic testing in the Genetic Risk Analysis in Ovarian Cancer (GRACE) study protocol. J Pers Med. 2021 Nov 13;11(11):1194. doi: 10.3390/jpm11111194. PubMed

Sterling R, Rinne ST, Reddy A, Moldestad M, Kaboli P, Helfrich CD, Henrikson NB, Nelson KM, Kaminetzky C, Wong ES. Identifying and prioritizing workplace climate predictors of burnout among VHA primary care physicians. J Gen Intern Med. 2021 Jul 29. doi: 10.1007/s11606-021-07006-x. Online ahead of print. PubMed

DiNucci A, Henrikson NB, Jonas MC, Basra S, Blasi P, Brown J, Esplin ED, Hassen D, Hao J, Hu Y, Klinger T, Ladd I, Leppig K, Lewis M, Meyer M, Ney S, Ramaprasan A, Romagnoli K, Salvati Z, Scrol A, Schwiter R, Sheridan L, Somasundaram B, Suwannarat P, Wagner JK, Rahm AK. Feasibility and Assessment of a Cascade Traceback Screening program (FACTS): protocol for a multisite study to implement and assess an ovarian cancer traceback cascade testing program. J Pers Med. 2021 Jun 11;11(6):543. doi: 10.3390/jpm11060543. PubMed

Henrikson NB, Blasi P, Figueroa Gray M, Tiffany BT, Scrol A, Ralston JD, Fullerton SM, Lim CY, Ewing J, Leppig KA. Patient and family preferences on health system-led direct contact for cascade screening. J Pers Med. 2021;11(6):538. doi: 10.3390/jpm11060538.  PubMed

Lin JS, Perdue LA, Henrikson NB, Bean SI, Blasi PR. Screening for colorectal cancer: updated evidence report and systematic review for the US Preventive Services Task Force. JAMA. 2021;325(19):1978-1997. doi: 10.1001/jama.2021.4417.  PubMed

Fan X, Wynn J, Shang N, Liu C, Fedotov A, Hallquist MLG, Buchanan AH, Williams MS, Smith ME, Hoell C, Rasmussen-Torvik LJ, Peterson JF, Wiesner GL, Murad AM, Jarvik GP, Gordon AS, Rosenthal EA, Stanaway IB, Crosslin DR, Larson EB, Leppig KA, Henrikson NB, Williams JL, Li R, Hebbring S, Weng C, Shen Y, Crew KD, Chung WK. Penetrance of breast cancer susceptibility genes from the eMERGE III network. JNCI Cancer Spectr. 2021 May 8;5(4):pkab044. doi: 10.1093/jncics/pkab044. eCollection 2021 Aug. PubMed

 

Healthy findings blog

Systematic-review-story_1col.jpg

How do you make sense of a mountain of evidence?

KPWHRI researchers answer questions about systematic reviews and their impact on health care guidelines.

HCSRN conference

HCSRN_conference-2023_1col.jpg

Researchers present, connect at annual conference

The HCSRN conference is a venue for collaborative work to improve health and health care.

profile

Nora-Hendrikson-family_1col.jpg

Why does Nora Henrikson study patients’ cost of treatment?

Dr. Henrikson’s Annals of Internal Medicine study describes 3 kinds of cost concerns that can affect cancer care.

video

Hendrikson-Nora-Cost-of-Care-ORCA_1col.jpg

Discussing patients’ concerns about cost of care

Nora Henrikson discusses her latest research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in May 2019. (Vimeo, 3:50)