Jeffrey W. Brettler, MD, FAHA

Biography

Faculty Director of Global Health; Associate Professor

Health Systems Science
Clinical Science

Dr. Jeffrey W. Brettler serves as Faculty Director of Global Health in the Office of Academic and Community Affairs for the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine. He is responsible for the development and oversight of a comprehensive global health strategy for student education and service. He also serves as an Associate Professor in the Departments of Health Systems and Clinical Science. Dr. Brettler is a consultant for the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), helping to implement integrated cardiovascular programs in Latin America and the Caribbean. He helped lead an innovation group with representatives from 12 countries to develop a comprehensive data monitoring system. Dr. Brettler has collaborated with colleagues throughout the Americas to develop a series of educational courses on blood pressure management for PAHO’s virtual campus. He has also served as a technical expert to the World Health Organization to help select and prioritize noncommunicable primary care facility-based indicators. He has also been a practicing internist at Kaiser Permanente’s West Los Angeles Medical Center and South Los Angeles Medical Center throughout his career. He continues to see patients at a Federally Qualified Health Center in South Los Angeles and at the Refugee Health Assessment Program in the LA County Department of Public Health.

Faculty headshot of Jeffrey W. Brettler, MD, FAHA

Education and Training

Degrees
BA, University of California, Berkeley
MD, University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine
Postdoctoral Training
Internship, Residency, Internal Medicine, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center

Professional Positions

General Internist
Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center
1990-present
Assistant Chief, Internal Medicine
Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center
1996-1999
Chief, Internal Medicine
Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center
1999-2011
Regional Co-Lead
Kaiser Permanente Southern California Regional Hypertension Program
2016-present
Consultant
Pan American Health Organization
2019-present
Assistant Professor, Health Systems Science
Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine
2021-2023
Faculty Director of Global Health
Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine
2022-present
Associate Professor, Health Systems Science
Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine
2023-present
Associate Professor, Clinical Science
Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine
2023-present

Honors and Awards

Internist of the Year
Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center
1992
Physician Exceptional Contribution Award
Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center
2010
Fellow
American Society of Hypertension
2016-present

Scholarly Activities

Selected peer-reviewed research manuscripts
  • Victor RG, Lynch K, Li N, Blyler CA, Muhammad E, Handler J, Brettler JW, Rashid M, Hsu B, Foxx-Drew D, Moy N, Reid AE, Robert Elashoff RM. A Cluster-Randomized Trial of Blood pressure Reduction in Black Barbershops. New England Journal of Medicine 2018; 378: 1291-1301.
  • Victor RG, Blyler CA, Li N, Lynch K, Moy N, Rashid M, L. Chang LC, Handler H, Brettler JW, Rader F, Elashoff RM. Sustainability of Blood pressure Reduction in Black Barbershops. Circulation 2019; 139:10-19.
  • Victor RG, Li N, Blyler CA, Mason OR, Chang LC, Rader F, Moy NP, Rashid M, Weiss J, Handler J, Brettler JW, Sagisi M, Elashoff RM. Nocturia as an Unrecognized Symptom of Uncontrolled Hypertension in Black Men 35-49 Years of Age. Journal of American Heart Association 2019; 8: e010794.
  • Ebinger J, Blyler CA, Brettler JW, Rader F. Barbershop Management of Hypertension in the African American Population: Pitfalls and Opportunities for Extension to other Underserved Communities. Current Cardiology Reports 22, 64 (2020).
  • An J, Long T, Qian L, Wei R, Liu R, Muntner P, Brettler JW, Jaffe M, Moran A, Reynolds K. Treatment Patterns and Blood Pressure Control with Initiation of Combination Versus Monotherapy Antihypertensive Regimens. Hypertension January 2021, 77:00.
  • Brettler JW, Giraldo Arcila GP, Aumala T, Best A, Campbell NR, Cyr S, Gamarra A, Jaffe MG, De la Rosa MJ, Maldonado J, Neira Ojeda C, Haughton M, Malcolm T, Perez V, Rodriguez G, Rosende A, Valdes Gonzalez Y, Wood PW, Zuñiga E, Ordunez P.  Drivers and scorecards to improve hypertension control in primary care practice: Recommendations from the HEARTS in the Americas Innovation Group. Lancet Regional Health – Americas; Volume 9, May 2022, 100223.
  • Harrison T, Zhou H, Wei R, Brettler JW, Muntner P, An J, Ong-Su A, Reynolds R. Blood Pressure Control among Black and White Adults Following a Quality Improvement Program in a Large Integrated Health System: 2008-2019. JAMA Network Open; 2023 Jan 3;6(1).
  • Abdalla M, Bolen SD, Brettler JW, Egan BM, Ferdinand KC, Ford CD, Lackland DT, Wall HK, Shimbo D. American Heart Association and American Medical Association. Implementation Strategies to Improve Blood Pressure Control in the United States: A Scientific Statement from the American Heart Association and American Medical Association. Hypertension. 2023 Aug 31. doi: 10.1161/HYP.0000000000000232. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37650292.
  • Ordunez P, Campbell NRC, DiPette DJ, Jaffe MG, Rosende A, Martinez R, Gamarra A, Lombardi C, Parra N, Rodriguez L, Rodriguez Y, Brettler JW. HEARTS in the Americas: Targeting Health System Change to Improve Population Hypertension Control. Curr Hypertens Rep. 2023 Dec 2. doi: 10.1007/s11906-023-01286-w. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38041725.
  • Kim V, Shi J, An J, Bhandari S, Brettler JW, Kanter M, Sim J. Hyperaldosteronism screening and findings from a large diverse population with resistant hypertension within an integrated health system. Perm J 2023:23.096 • https://doi.org/10.7812/TPP/23.096
  • View a complete list of Dr. Brettler's manuscripts
Podcasts
  • BMJ Talk Medicine. Episode: Hypertension: Everything you need to know about the new 2017 AHA/ACC guidelines. January 2018.