Our Team

This website is the product of collaboration between The IMPACT Center (P50MH126219), The OPTICC Center (P50CA244432), and the MECHANISMS grant (R01CA262325).

The IMPACT Center

The University of Washington IMPACT Center brings together experts from complementary disciplines to optimize evidence-based practice implementation for youth in low-resourced community settings, such as community mental health centers and schools. This transdisciplinary approach adds substantial value to IMPACT's research aims, as the issues of implementation science and mental health services research cannot be resolved by a sole discipline, nor can single investigator-led projects be expected to transform mental health care.

The IMPACT Center’s inter-institutional leadership structure leverages complementary experience and expertise in implementation science, effectiveness research, and measure development and evaluation. This partnership provides an opportunity for broader IMPACT Center influence through each institution’s unique community networks, as well as methods testing and refinement.

The IMPACT Center is co-led by MPIs Shannon Dorsey and Bryan Weiner.

The OPTICC Center

The Optimizing Implementation in Cancer Control (OPTICC) Center is one of seven National Cancer Institute Implementation Science Centers in Cancer Control (ISC3), located in Seattle, Washington. 

The OPTICC Center was created to support optimized implementation of evidence-based medicine in clinical and community settings for a wide range of cancers across the cancer care continuum, and is a strategic partnership between The University of Washington (UW), Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI), and the Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center (FHCRC).

The OPTICC Center is co-led by MPIs Peggy Hannon and Bryan Weiner.

MECHANISMS: The MECHANics of Implementation Strategies and MeasureS

There is a fundamental gap in understanding the causal mechanisms by which strategies for implementing evidence-based practices address local barriers to effective, appropriate service delivery. Continued existence of this gap represents an important problem because, until it is addressed, scientific knowledge and practical guidance about which implementation strategies to use in which contexts will remain elusive.

The long-term goal of this grant is to develop the evidence base and practical utility of implementation science through mechanisms- focused implementation research. Once strategy-mechanism linkages are identified, implementation scientists can develop tailored implementation strategies and generate more robust evidence about which strategies work best in which contexts. Moreover, practitioners will be better able to select implementation strategies to address their specific implementation problems.

The MECHANISMS R01 is co-led by MPIs Byron Powell and Bryan Weiner.

Our Goal

Our goal is to support optimized implementation of evidence-based practices in real-world settings by developing, testing, and refining improved methods for identifying and prioritizing implementation barriers, matching implementation strategies to prioritized implementation barriers, and optimizing strategy design for efficiency, effectiveness, resources, and fit.

Optimized implementation happens when strategies employed to implement evidence-based practices truly address key implementation barriers in the specific settings in which implementation occurs, and when those strategies reflect the best possible methods to address those barriers.

Collaborative Leadership

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Bryan Weiner, PhD // MPI OPTICC, IMPACT, MECHANISMS
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Peggy Hannon, PhD // MPI OPTICC
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Shannon Dorsey, PhD // MPI IMPACT
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Byron Powell, PhD // MPI MECHANISMS
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Pedja Klasnja, PhD // IMPACT Methods Co-Lead, MECHANISMS Relational Database Co-Lead, OPTICC Research Program Core Co-Lead
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Rosemary Meza, PhD // IMPACT Methods Co-Lead, MECHANISMS Relational Database Co-Lead, OPTICC Research Program Core Co-Lead
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Rene Hawkes // OPTICC Research Manager, IMPACT Methods Core PM