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Chief Implementation Officer
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Rockland, District of Columbia, United States
Karin Rhodes, MD MS is AHRQ’s first ever Chief Implementation Officer, leading a strategic plan for the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund investments and contributing to AHRQ’s practice improvement efforts. She completed an emergency medicine residency and the RWJF Clinical Scholar’s Program at the University of Chicago. At Penn, she was inaugural Chair of the Center for Emergency Care and Policy Research, where she led research teams testing ED innovations in screening/intervening for health-related social risks, improving transitions in care, and led a national team tracking the impact of ACA insurance expansions on access to primary care in 10 diverse states. As VP for Care Management at Northwell Health, she designed and evaluated innovations to address the complex care needs and social determinants of patients across the continuum of care. After a year in DC as a RWJF Health Policy Fellow in both the Senate and House, she served as director of public health for the state of New Mexico, giving her experience with both federal and state legislation and policy making. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Rhodes convened NYC leadership in emergency medicine to develop a set of ethical principles for equitable allocation of resuscitation resources. With support from RWJF, she engaged a human-centered design firm, organized and co-chaired Emergency Medicine All Threats (EMAT), an informal network of NYC-area emergency medicine leaders seeking to break down silos across competing health systems, share regional knowledge and actionable data, and improve health equity and public health preparedness. At AHRQ, she hopes to build on these experiences and support federal cross-agency teams to generate, synthesize, disseminate, and integrate evidence into clinical care and give patients a voice in the complex process of health system change.