Heart disease is the leading cause of death for Americans. Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) scientists are working to understand how to reduce our risk of heart attacks, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases throughout life.
Addressing risk factors, improving diagnosis, and exploring how medications, genes, and everyday life affect our cardiovascular health at different ages and stages are central to this work — as is translating research findings into practical, personalized care.
“We’ve found that helping patients and health care teams work together on personalized care plans is the best path to lifelong heart health,” says Beverly Green, MD, MPH, whose recent work has focused on improving the diagnosis of high blood pressure.
Additional focus areas for KPWHRI scientists include exploring the impact of cardiovascular diseases on other health conditions — and vice versa. Recently, this has led researchers Sascha Dublin, MD, PhD, and Laura B. Harrington, PhD, MPH, to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular health.
Below are other research highlights from KPWHRI’s cardiovascular health scientists (please visit their bios to learn more):
Blondon M, Wiggins KL, McKnight B, Psaty BM, Rice KM, Heckbert SR, Smith NL. The association of smoking with venous thrombosis in women. A population-based, case-control study. Thromb Haemost. 2013 May 2;109(5):891-6. doi: 10.1160/TH12-10-0732. Epub 2013 Mar 7. PubMed
Smith LG, Yatsuya H, Psaty BM, Longstreth WT Jr, Folsom AR. Height and risk of incident intraparenchymal hemorrhage: atherosclerosis risk in communities and cardiovascular health study cohorts. J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis. 2013 May;22(4):323-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2011.09.004. Epub 2011 Dec 15. PubMed
Shortreed SM, Peeters A, Forbes AB. Estimating the effect of long-term physical activity on cardiovascular disease and mortality: evidence from the Framingham Heart Study. Heart. 2013 May;99(9):649-54. doi: 10.1136/heartjnl-2012-303461. Epub 2013 Mar 8. PubMed
Psaty BM, Sitlani C. The Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) Consortium as a model of collaborative science. Epidemiology. 2013 May;24(3):346-8. doi: 10.1097/EDE.0b013e31828b2cbb. PubMed
Ganesh SK, Tragante V, Guo W, Guo Y, Lanktree MB, Smith EN, Johnson T, Castillo BA, Barnard J, Baumert J, Chang YP, Elbers CC, Farrall M, Fischer ME, Franceschini N, Gaunt TR, Gho JM, Gieger C, Gong Y, Isaacs A, Kleber ME, Leach IM, McDonough CW, Meijs MF, Mellander O, Molony CM, Nolte IM, Padmanabhan S, Price TS, Rajagopalan R, Shaffer J, Shah S, Shen H, Soranzo N, van der Most PJ, Van Iperen EP, van Setten J, Vonk JM, Zhang L, Beitelshees AL, Berenson GS, Bhatt DL, Boer JM, Boerwinkle E, Burkley B, Burt A, Chakravarti A, Chen W, Cooper-Dehoff RM, Curtis SP, Dreisbach A, Duggan D, Ehret GB, Fabsitz RR, Fornage M, Fox E, Furlong CE, Gansevoort RT, Hofker MH, Hovingh GK, Kirkland SA, Kottke-Marchant K, Kutlar A, LaCroix AZ, Langaee TY, Li YR, Lin H, Liu K, Maiwald S, Malik R; METASTROKE, Murugesan G, Newton-Cheh C, O'Connell JR, Onland-Moret NC, Ouwehand WH, Palmas W, Penninx BW, Pepine CJ, Pettinger M, Polak JF, Ramachandran VS, Ranchalis J, Redline S, Ridker PM, Rose LM, Scharnag H, Schork NJ, Shimbo D, Shuldiner AR, Srinivasan SR, Stolk RP, Taylor HA, Thorand B, Trip MD, van Duijn CM, Verschuren WM, Wijmenga C, Winkelmann BR, Wyatt S, Young JH, Boehm BO, Caulfield MJ, Chasman DI, Davidson KW, Doevendans PA, Fitzgerald GA, Gums JG, Hakonarson H, Hillege HL, Illig T, Jarvik GP, Johnson JA, Kastelein JJ, Koenig W; LifeLines Cohort Study, März W, Mitchell BD, Murray SS, Oldehinkel AJ, Rader DJ, Reilly MP, Reiner AP, Schadt EE, Silverstein RL, Snieder H, Stanton AV, Uitterlinden AG, van der Harst P, van der Schouw YT, Samani NJ, Johnson AD, Munroe PB, de Bakker PI, Zhu X, Levy D, Keating BJ, Asselbergs FW. Loci influencing blood pressure identified using a cardiovascular gene-centric array. Hum Mol Genet. 2013 Apr 15;22(8):1663-78. doi: 10.1093/hmg/dds555. Epub 2013 Jan 8. PubMed
Sascha Dublin, MD, PhDSenior Investigator |
Beverly B. Green, MD, MPHSenior Investigator |
Laura Harrington, PhD, MPHAssistant Investigator |
Ellen O'Meara, PhDPrincipal Collaborative Scientist |
Nicole M. Gatto, PhD, MPHPrincipal Collaborative Scientist |
Meagan C. Brown, PhD, MPHAssistant Investigator |
James Floyd, MD, MS
Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology
University of Washington
Susan Heckbert, MD, PhD
University of Washington (UW) Department of Epidemiology; UW Cardiovascular Health Research Unit
Nicholas L. Smith, PhD, MPH
UW Professor, Epidemiology, Cardiovascular Health Research Unit
Director, Seattle Epidemiology and Information Resource Center, VA Puget Sound Health Care System