Bita A. Kash

Dr. Kash's history of research relevant to healthcare policy and practice, external funding success and multi-disciplinary approach to research has been growing in national and international impact and recognition. Kash is the Director for the Center for Health Organization Transformation (CHOT), funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and over 30 industry members. The Center is one of 78 NSF-funded Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers (I/UCRC) in the U.S., and the only I/UCRC that focuses on innovations in healthcare delivery. CHOT is currently a eight-university center anchored at Texas A&M University and sites at Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, University of Washington, and Penn State University. CHOT conducts research to support the implementation of evidence-based transformational strategies within healthcare organizations. Kash's research model relies on the knowledge and experience of healthcare leaders to guide academic research. This cooperative model ensures that the research is both meaningful and applicable to the healthcare industry and provides immediate decision support for CHOT industry members. In April 2017, I assumed leadership of the Center for Outcomes Research (COR) at Houston Methodist Research Institute. As Director of the COR at Houston Methodist Research Institute, I lead a $3 million institutional research budget supporting a staff of research scientists, a biostatistics core, data scientists, and graduate students. Currently, Kash is developing and implementing a customized curriculum in Public Health Research Methods for the United Nation’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Division of Human Health in 2017. The courses designed for the IAEA will provide technical assistance and capacity building for project teams in up to 168 IAEA member nations across the globe.