Kirsten E. Austad, MD MPH

Assistant Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

Kirsten Austad MD MPH is a health equity focused implementation scientist and Co-Director of Boston University's Evans Center for Implementation & Improvement Science (CIIS). She possesses expertise in qualitative methods and novel mixed methods approaches. Her research focusing on advancing theory and methods within implementation science and improving delivery of evidence-based interventions to populations in the safety net setting with an emphasis on those with non-English language preference. As such she has experience conducting research in diverse multilingual settings and intervention adaptation. Her research is inspired by her clinical work as a hospitalist at BMC, by the six years she worked as Director of Women's Health programming for an NGO in Guatemala that service rural indigenous Maya communities, and by her broad training in Family Medicine.

Currently she is supported by a K23 from NIMHD to adapt a transitional care intervention for patients with NELP. She was also the PI of the TIDE pilot trial funded by BMC's Health Equity Accelerator, which tested a package of language-concordant discharge teaching tools for patients with NELP in a pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT). As Co-Director of CIIS she provides mentorship to early career faculty completing the implementation science fellowship, participates in campus education on implementation science, and provides consults for others on campus looking to integrate implementation science into their research and practice.

Areas of expertise: implementation science, populations with limited English proficiency
Methods expertise: qualitative methods, rapid qual analysis, discrete choice experiments, intervention adaptation, cultural adaptation, clinical trials

Publications

  • Published 4/25/2025

    Mohanty A, Austad K, Bosch NA, Long MT, Nolen-Doerr E, Walkey AJ, Drainoni ML, Rizo I, Fantasia KL. Assessing Clinician Engagement with a Passive Clinical Decision Support System for Liver Fibrosis Risk Stratification in a Weight Management Clinic. Endocr Pract. 2025 Apr 25. PMID: 40288606.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 2/21/2025

    Austad K, Lee JH, Lanney H, Rapoport VO, Wornhoff R, McDaniel K, Li-Garrison L, Jack BW. Evaluating the quality and equity of patient hospital discharge instructions. BMC Health Serv Res. 2025 Feb 21; 25(1):291. PMID: 39980004.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 2/20/2025

    Roseen EJ, Bussières A, Reichman R, Bora C, Trieu J, Austad K, Williams C, Fischer RA, Parrilla D, Laird LD, LaValley M, Evans RL, Saper RB, Morone NE. A multi-level implementation strategy to increase adoption of chiropractic care for low back pain in primary care clinics: a randomized stepped-wedge pilot study protocol. Chiropr Man Therap. 2025 Feb 20; 33(1):9. PMID: 39979943.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 12/21/2024

    Austad K, Thai C, Zavatti A, Nguyen N, Bautista-Hurtado D, Kenney P, Lugo N, Lee JH, Lanney H, Xuan Z, Cordova-Ramos EG, Drainoni ML, Jack B. Tools to improve discharge equity: Protocol for the pilot TIDE trial. Contemp Clin Trials Commun. 2025 Feb; 43:101419. PMID: 39810841.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 12/18/2024

    Silver SR, Jones KC, Hook K, Crable EL, George ER, Serwint JR, Austad K, Walkey A, Drainoni ML. Defining the transition from new to normal: a qualitative investigation of the clinical change process. BMC Health Serv Res. 2024 Dec 18; 24(1):1592. PMID: 39695655.

    Read at: PubMed

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Websites

Education

  • Harvard Medical School, MD
  • Harvard School of Public Health, MPH
  • University of Wisconsin Madison, BS

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