2019
Dr. McCaw was the Medical Director of the Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC) Family Violence Prevention Program from 2001 to 2019, Brigid McCaw oversaw the implementation of a comprehensive, coordinated model for improving screening, identification, and services for intimate partner violence (IPV). This approach, which utilizes systems thinking, performance improvement, health information technology, and dissemination and implementation science was associated with a substantial and sustained increase in IPV identification in primary care, mental health and emergency services in KPNC[1]. The program has received national awards and recognition. Dr. McCaw also led the national Kaiser Permanente (KP) dissemination of family violence prevention services, an inter-regional effort of KP regions impacting 12 Million KP members in 8 states and the District of Columbia. She has conducted research and published on the health effects of IPV, including a 2019 New England Journal of Medicine review article on IPV[2].
Dr. McCaw’s leadership, teaching, and publications primarily focuses on three areas: 1) developing the healthcare systems response to family violence, 2) implementation of ACEs/trauma and resiliency informed care, and 3) addressing social and behavioral health determinants including abuse/violence. She is a member of the Practice Transformation Workgroup of the National Council for Behavioral Health that has developed and tested an organizational change package for advancing trauma-informed primary care[3]. She served on the SAMHSA Expert group on General Adult Trauma Screening and Brief Response (GATSBR) in Primary Health Care Settings (2014-2018). She participated in a national working group on trauma informed care, led by Dr. Edward Machtinger, and the recent publication of a consensus-based, evidence-informed conceptual model and guidance for trauma-informed health care for adults[4]. Her research, in collaboration with the KPNC Division of Research, included feasibility of screening for ACES/resiliency in prenatal care[5], and in pediatric clinics (study currently underway).
She attended the University of California, Berkeley-San Francisco Joint Medical Program, receiving her MD and MS, and MPH (epidemiology) from UC Berkeley School of Public Health. She is Board Certified in Internal Medicine (UC Davis residency) a Fellow of the American College of Physicians; Past Chair of the National Health Collaborative on Violence and Abuse; and a member of the Forum on Global Violence Prevention, National Academy of Medicine.
[1]Transforming the Health Care Response to Intimate Partner Violence: Addressing “Wicked Problems”. (2016) Journal of the American Medical Association. 315(23):2517-2518. Young-Wolff K, Kotz K, McCaw B.
[2]Intimate Partner Violence. (2019) New England Journal of Medicine. 380(9):850-7. Miller E, McCaw B.
[3]Trauma-Informed Primary Care: Fostering Resilience and Recovery, National Council for Behavioral Health (expected release date Fall 2019)
[4]From Treatment to Healing: Inquiry and Response to Recent and Past Trauma in Adult Health Care. (2018) Womens Health Issues. 29(2):97-102.Machtinger E, Davis K, Kimberg L, Khanna N, Cuca Y, Dawson-Rose C, Shumway M, Campbell J, Lewis-O’Connor A, Blake M, Blanch A, McCaw B.
[5]Feasibility and Acceptability of Screening for Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) in Prenatal Care. (2018) Journal of Women’s Health. 27(7):903-911. Flanagan T, Alabaster A, McCaw B, Stoller N, Watson C, Young-Wolff, K.
Adverse Childhood Experiences and Mental and Behavioral Health Conditions during Pregnancy: The Role of Resilience. (2019) Journal of Women's Health. 28(4):452-461.Young-Wolff K, Alabaster A, McCaw B, Stoller N, Watson C, Sterling S, Ridout K, Flanagan.
