Amy Kilbourne, PhD, MPH

Janelle Burleigh: [email protected]

Dr. Kilbourne is Director of the VA Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI) and Professor of Learning Health Sciences at the University of Michigan (U-M) Medical School. With over 40 centers across the U.S., the mission of QUERI is to improve Veteran health by accelerating the implementation of research findings into real-world practice. As QUERI Director, Dr. Kilbourne leads the Research to Real-World (R2R) Impact Initiative for the VA Office of Research and Development, which facilitates translation of innovations to real-world practices using implementation science and Learning Health System methods.

Dr. Kilbourne’s research goal is to improve population health by testing implementation strategies to facilitate the spread of effective practices in real-world treatment settings. She developed the Enhanced Replicating Effective Programs (E-REP) framework and conducted the first national sequential multiple assignment randomized trial (SMART) to assess the added value of more versus less intensive implementation strategies. 

Dr. Kilbourne received her bachelors of arts at the University of California at Berkeley and her masters and PhD in public health from the University of California Los Angeles.

Research and scholarly interests:

• Implementation science methods and strategies across the translation pipeline
• Quality improvement and implementation strategies to improve uptake of effective practices
• Pragmatic clinical trials of health services-focused interventions

Subject matter expertise:

• Implementation science: development and testing of provider, health system, and policy-level strategies to enhance uptake of effective practices in real-world settings
• Adaptive designs and sequential multiple assignment randomized trials (SMART) in implementation studies
• Integrated behavioral and physical health care interventions
• Evidence-based policy in health care systems 

Other professional highlights:

• Faculty Member, U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation (IHPI)
• Member, NIMH National Advisory Mental Health Council
• Senior Fellow, Partnership for Public Service in Washington, D.C.
• Co-founder, VA Foundations for Evidence-based Policy Workgroup, which is charged with supporting VA's operationalization of the Evidence Act, which requires all Cabinet-level agencies to incorporate evidence and evaluation into national budgetary decisions
• Associate Director for Implementation and Policy, U-M Depression Center
• Launched the QUERI Center for Evaluation and Implementation Resources (CEIR), the QUERI Implementation Roadmap, and accompanying Research Lifecycle which applies Learning Health System and Implementation Science principles across the translational pipeline
• Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) 2011 awardee
• Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) Gerald L. Klerman Research Awardee

• Kilbourne, Co-I (Daumit: PI): Center to Accelerate Translation of Interventions to Decrease Premature Mortality in SMI; P50 MH115842-01; 08/2018 – 05/2022, NIMH
• Kilbourne, PI: Improving Student Mental Health: Adaptive Implementation of School-based CBT; R01 MH114203; 08/2017-05/2022, NIMH
• Kilbourne, Co-I (Cunningham, PI): University of Michigan Injury Prevention Center, 6/2019-6/2024, CDCP
• Kilbourne, PI: Michigan Mental Health Integration Partnership, State of Michigan, Medicaid Match; 10/2016-present, CMS
• Kilbourne/McInnis, PIs: Integrated Self-Management Apps to Enhance Outcomes for Medicaid Consumers, State of Michigan, Medicaid Match ; 10/2016-present, CMS

Selected publications (Out of over 200):

• Kilbourne AM, Prenovost KM, Liebrecht C, Eisenberg D, Kim HM, Un H, Bauer MS. Randomized Controlled Trial of a Collaborative Care Intervention for Mood Disorders by a National Commercial Health Plan. Psychiatr Serv. 2019 Mar 1;70(3):219-224. doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.201800336: https://ihpi.umich.edu/news/michigan-mental-health-integration-partnership

• Kilbourne AM, Smith SN, Choi SY, Koschmann E, Liebrecht C, Rusch A, Abelson JL, Eisenberg D, Himle JA, Fitzgerald K, Almirall D. Adaptive School-based Implementation of CBT (ASIC): clustered-SMART for building an optimized adaptive implementation intervention to improve uptake of mental health interventions in schools. Implement Sci. 2018 Sep 5;13(1):119. doi: 10.1186/s13012-018-0808-8: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30185192

• Eisman AB, Kilbourne AM, Dopp AR, Saldana L, Eisenberg D. Economic evaluation in implementation science: Making the business case for implementation strategies. Psychiatry Res. 2019 Jun 7: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31202612

• Frakt AB, Prentice JC, Pizer SD, Elwy AR, Garrido MM, Kilbourne AM, Atkins D. Overcoming Challenges to Evidence-Based Policy Development in a Large, Integrated Delivery System. Health Serv Res. 2018 Dec;53(6):4789-4807. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.12986:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29862494

• Kilbourne AM, Elwy AR, Sales AE, Atkins D. Accelerating Research Impact in a Learning Health Care System: VA's Quality Enhancement Research Initiative in the Choice Act Era.Med Care. 2017 Jul;55 Suppl 7 Suppl 1:S4-S12. doi: 10.1097/MLR.0000000000000683:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27997456

Kilbourne AM, Almirall D, Eisenberg D, Waxmonsky J, Goodrich DE, Fortney JC, Kirchner JE, Solberg LI, Main D, Bauer MS, Kyle J, Murphy SA, Nord KM, Thomas MR. Adaptive Implementation of Effective Programs Trial (ADEPT): cluster randomized SMART trial comparing a standard versus enhanced implementation strategy to improve outcomes of a mood disorders program. Implement Sci. 2014 Sep 30;9:132. doi: 10.1186/s13012-014-0132-x. PMID: 25267385: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4189548/