# HSR&D Research Career Scientist Award

> **NIH VA IK6** · VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION · 2021 · —

## Abstract

Behavioral health (BH) conditions, including mental health and substance use disorders, remain common and
persistent among Veterans Health Administration (VHA) patients. Several VHA key priority areas coincide with
BH conditions, including disability, overdose, suicide, and women's health. VHA remains a national leader in
providing high-quality BH treatment and serves as an early responder to policies and programs designed to
improve health and wellbeing for individuals experiencing these conditions. VHA must develop and evaluate
new strategies to manage and resolve the complicated array of problems facing Veterans with BH conditions and
their providers.
Kara Zivin, PhD, MS, MA has focused on improving VHA BH services using used mixed methods research and
evaluation approaches. The three primary thematic aims of her work include: 1) to continue research to evaluate
the impacts of health policies and system initiatives on outcomes among Veterans with BH conditions, leading
to intervention development, implementation, dissemination, and targeted policymaking; 2) to extend research
to improve Veteran functional outcomes including disability and employment among those with BH conditions
and enhance VHA clinician wellbeing; and 3), to develop and lead women's health research to improve Veterans'
perinatal BH. These three thematic areas directly relate to positive treatment outcomes, including overall
function and wellbeing, and reducing the likelihood of adverse events among Veterans with BH conditions.
Dr. Zivin's has demonstrated her contributions to these areas through her externally funded research with
support from VA Health Services Research and Development (HSR&D), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) among others in addition to over 160 peer-
reviewed scientific publications. Dr. Zivin has actively mentored ten early career investigators and/or trainees
within the VA and has served in key leadership and service roles locally within the Ann Arbor VA Center of
Innovation (COIN) and nationally within the VHA.
Given her active and productive research portfolio and demonstrated commitment to mentoring colleagues in
developing VHA research careers, Dr. Zivin is a strong candidate for a Health Services Research Career Scientist
Award. The proposed Research Career Scientist Award will support her continued research, an expanded role in
mentorship and training of the next generation of HSR&D researchers, and targeted VHA service designed to
enhance and extend the reach and impact of her research and mentoring. Her research portfolio has the potential
to address some of the most critical and vexing BH-related priorities in VHA and improve care for some of the
most challenging and highest-risk Veterans treated within the VHA system.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10248714
- **Project number:** 1IK6HX003397-01
- **Recipient organization:** VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
- **Principal Investigator:** Kara Zivin
- **Activity code:** IK6 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-10-01 → 2026-09-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10248714

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10248714, HSR&D Research Career Scientist Award (1IK6HX003397-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10248714. Licensed CC0.

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