Dr. Donna Buchanan is the Director of Research and is responsible for overseeing research activities and
services throughout the Saint Luke’s Health System. She works in close partnership with the Vice President of Research in promoting Saint Luke’s research mission and expanding research opportunities. She plans, coordinates and implements initiatives aimed to meet objectives of the SLHS research strategic plan. She is responsible for ensuring that all research is conducted throughout the system in a responsible and ethical manner that is compliant with applicable laws, regulations, and industry standards.

Prior to her current role, Dr. Buchanan worked as a Researcher/Manager (2005-2017) and Director (2017-2018) with the Cardiovascular Outcomes Research Group at Saint Luke’s Hospital during which time she served as the Assistant Director of the UMKC post-doctoral NIH T32 Cardiovascular Outcomes Research Fellowship Training Program, was a Research Mentor for Saint Luke’s Innovations Center project teams working to implement new ideas to improve the efficiency and quality of health care, and on a national level, she coordinated the research and publication activities of the Cardiovascular Outcomes Research Consortium and provided management oversight of the analytic services conducted for the American College of Cardiology’s National Cardiovascular Data Registries. She has made important contributions to
the development of national performance measurement reporting systems for behavioral health and cardiology. As a psychologist, she has conducted research involving the association of depression and other psychosocial and behavioral characteristics with heart disease and outcomes.