Ellen Iverson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the USC Keck school of Medicine and is currently the Deputy Director of the Community Health Outcomes and Intervention Research Program (CHOIR) at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA). Previously, she was Executive Director of the Office of Community Engagement (OCE) of the Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute and headed the Research & Evaluation Group of the Division of Adolescent Medicine at Children's Hospital Los Angeles.
For over 25 years, she has overseen and conducted numerous mixed and single method clinical and community-based studies at UCLA, the RAND Corporation and, most recently at USC/Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. Her research integrates community based participatory research (CPBR) principles into her research activities and projects, most of which have focused on wide variety of health issues affecting underserved communities with a special focus on children, adolescents and young adult populations. During her tenure at CHLA, she has also developed and conducted multiple clinic- and community based research projects in Los Angeles and throughout the state. She is currently Co-Investigator on two NIH funded projects focused on patient-provider decision-making and the application of genetic testing in critical care and mixed-method, participatory research in East and South Los Angeles communities designed to develop an ecological approach to obesity and diabetes prevention.
As Executive Director of the OCE, she has been responsible for creating the three core community advisory councils that are helping steer the strategic direction and priorities of the SC-CTSI. In the past year, she has also planned and overseen forum, workshops and other events designed to strengthen the bridge and partnership between researcher and community practitioners. She is currently teaching seminars on research methods to CHLA clinical Fellows, precepts the Child Advocacy Rotation for CHLA interns and residents and is a member of multiple community advisory boards and community consortia supporting research and intervention efforts targeting adolescents and young adults.