Gwen Lapham, PhD, MPH
"My research focuses on primary care, currently in two areas: understanding cannabis use and integration of mental health services for adolescents."
Gwen Lapham, PhD, MPH, MSW
Associate Investigator, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute
Affiliate Assistant Professor, Department of Health Systems and Population Health, University of Washington School of Public Health
Assistant Professor, Department of Health Systems Science, Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine
Gwen.T.Lapham@kp.org
206-287-2021
Biography
Gwen Lapham, PhD, MPH, MSW, is a Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) associate investigator and addictions health services researcher. She is also an assistant affiliate professor in the Department of Health Systems and Population Health at the University of Washington and an assistant professor in the Department of Health Systems Science at the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine. She has more than 15 years’ experience in implementation and evaluation research to improve the prevention and treatment of unhealthy substance use in medical settings, first at Veterans Affairs (VA) Puget Sound and now at Kaiser Permanente Washington. She has led analyses of large national and multisite real-world datasets and collaborated on diverse research focused on improving care for substance use.
Since joining KPWHRI, Dr. Lapham has capitalized on her social work and health services training to do impactful research on evidence-based primary care for unhealthy substance use, including alcohol, opioid, and cannabis use. She is currently co-leading a pragmatic, cluster-randomized, effectiveness-implementation trial testing 2 interventions to systematically implement shared decision-making for primary care patients with an alcohol use disorder. She is co-investigator for a study developing a patient decision aid to support discontinuation of long-term opioid therapy and another study designed to assess the social and behavioral determinants of health that impact medications for opioid use disorder. Dr. Lapham’s current research is also focused on evaluating the adverse health risks associated with cannabis use among primary care patients, including use among pregnant individuals, as well as testing the effectiveness of integrated behavioral health care, including routine substance use and suicide risk screening, for teens in primary care.
RESEARCH INTERESTS AND EXPERIENCE
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Behavior Change
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Addictions & Unhealthy Substance Use
Prevention and treatment
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Health Services & Economics
Implementation research; quality measurement
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Implementation Research
Screening and brief intervention; mental health quality measurement
Sparc trial tools
Resources for behavioral health integration
The SPARC trial successfully implemented behavioral health care into primary care. On our website, you can access tools for behavioral health integration, as well as frequently asked questions and publications.
Recent publications
Williams EC, Lapham GT, Shortreed SM, Rubinsky AD, Bobb JF, Bensley KM, Catz SL, Richards JE, Bradley KA Among patients with unhealthy alcohol use, those with HIV are less likely than those without to receive evidence-based alcohol-related care: A national VA study 2017 May;174:113-120. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2017.01.018. Epub 2017-03-06. PubMed
Bradley KA, Rubinsky AD, Lapham GT, Berger D, Bryson C, Achtmeyer C, Hawkins EJ, Chavez LJ, Williams EC, Kivlahan DR. Predictive validity of clinical AUDIT-C alcohol screening scores and changes in scores for three objective alcohol-related outcomes in a Veterans Affairs (VA) population. Addiction. 2016 Nov;111(11):1975-1984. doi: 10.1111/add.13505. Epub 2016 Aug 2. PubMed
Grossbard J, Malte CA, Lapham G, Pagulayan K, Turner AP, Rubinsky AD, Bradley KA, Saxon AJ, Hawkins EJ. Prevalence of alcohol misuse and follow-up care in a national sample of OEF/OIF VA patients with and without TBI. Psychiatr Serv. 2017 Jan 1;68(1):48-55. doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.201500290. Epub 2016 Aug 1. PubMed
Chavez LJ, Williams EC, Lapham GT, Rubinsky AD, Kivlahan DR, Bradley KA. Changes in patient-reported alcohol-related advice following veterans health administration implementation of brief alcohol interventions. J Stud Alcohol Drugs. 2016 May;77(3):500-8. PubMed
Bradley KA, Lapham GT. Is it time for a more ambitious research agenda for decreasing alcohol-related harm among young adults? Addiction. 2016 Sep;111(9):1531-2. doi: 10.1111/add.13235. Epub 2016 Mar 6. PubMed
Chavez LJ, Liu CF, Tefft N, Herbert PL, Clark BJ, Rubinsky AD, Lapham GT, Bradley KA. Unhealthy alcohol use in older adults: association with readmissions and emergency department use in the 30 days after hospital discharge. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2016 Jan 1;158:94-101. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2015.11.008. Epub 2015 Nov 19. PubMed
Williams EC, Achtmeyer CE, Young JP, Rittmueller SE, Ludman EJ, Lapham GT, Lee AK, Chavez LJ, Berger D, Bradley KA. Local implementation of alcohol screening and brief intervention at five Veterans Health Administration primary care clinics: perspectives of clinical and administrative staff. J Subst Abuse Treat. 2015 Jul 26. J Subst Abuse Treat. 2016 Jan;60:27-35. doi: 10.1016/j.jsat.2015.07.011. Epub 2015 Jul 26. PubMed
Ornelas IJ, Lapham GT, Salgado H, Williams EC, Gotman N, Womack V, Davis S, Penedo F, Smoller S, Gallo LC. Binge drinking and perceived ethnic discrimination among Hispanics/Latinos: results from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos Sociocultural Ancillary Study. J Ethn Subst Abuse. 2016 Jul-Sep;15(3):223-239. Epub 2015 Dec 7. PubMed
Williams EC, Achtmeyer CE, Thomas RM, Grossbard JR, Lapham GT, Chavez LJ, Ludman EJ, Berger D, Bradley KA. Factors underlying quality problems with alcohol screening prompted by a clinical reminder in primary care: a multi-site qualitative study. J Gen Intern Med. 2015 Aug;30(8):1125-32. doi: 10.1007/s11606-015-3248-z. Epub 2015 Mar 3. PubMed
Lapham GT, Rubinsky AD, Williams EC, Hawkins EJ, Grossbard J, Chavez LJ, Kivlahan DR, Bradley KA. Decreasing sensitivity of clinical alcohol screening with the AUDIT-C after repeated negative screens in VA clinics. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2014 Sep 1;142:209-15. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2014.06.017. Epub 2014 Jun 23. PubMed
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