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):
Köttgen A, Pattaro C, Böger CA, Fuchsberger C, Olden M, Glazer NL, Parsa A, Gao X, Yang Q, Smith AV, O'Connell JR, Li M, Schmidt H, Tanaka T, Isaacs A, Ketkar S, Hwang SJ, Johnson AD, Dehghan A, Teumer A, Paré G, Atkinson EJ, Zeller T, Lohman K, Cornelis MC, Probst-Hensch NM, Kronenberg F, Tönjes A, Hayward C, Aspelund T, Eiriksdottir G, Launer LJ, Harris TB, Rampersaud E, Mitchell BD, Arking DE, Boerwinkle E, Struchalin M, Cavalieri M, Singleton A, Giallauria F, Metter J, de Boer IH, Haritunians T, Lumley T, Siscovick D, Psaty BM, Zillikens MC, Oostra BA, Feitosa M, Province M, de Andrade M, Turner ST, Schillert A, Ziegler A, Wild PS, Schnabel RB, Wilde S, Munzel TF, Leak TS, Illig T, Klopp N, Meisinger C, Wichmann HE, Koenig W, Zgaga L, Zemunik T, Kolcic I, Minelli C, Hu FB, Johansson A, Igl W, Zaboli G, Wild SH, Wright AF, Campbell H, Ellinghaus D, Schreiber S, Aulchenko YS, Felix JF, Rivadeneira F, Uitterlinden AG, Hofman A, Imboden M, Nitsch D, Brandstätter A, Kollerits B, Kedenko L, Mägi R, Stumvoll M, Kovacs P, Boban M, Campbell S, Endlich K, Völzke H, Kroemer HK, Nauck M, Völker U, Polasek O, Vitart V, Badola S, Parker AN, Ridker PM, Kardia SL, Blankenberg S, Liu Y, Curhan GC, Franke A, Rochat T, Paulweber B, Prokopenko I, Wang W, Gudnason V, Shuldiner AR, Coresh J, Schmidt R, Ferrucci L, Shlipak MG, van Duijn CM, Borecki I, Krämer BK, Rudan I, Gyllensten U, Wilson JF, Witteman JC, Pramstaller PP, Rettig R, Hastie N, Chasman DI, Kao WH, Heid IM, Fox CS. New loci associated with kidney function and chronic kidney disease. Nat Genet. 2010;42(5):376-84. Epub 2010 Apr 11. PubMed
Kalogeropoulos A, Psaty BM, Vasan RS, Georgiopoulou V, Smith AL, Smith NL, Kritchevsky SB, Wilson PW, Newman AB, Harris TB, Butler J. Validation of the Health ABC Heart Failure model for incident heart failure risk prediction: The Cardiovascular Health Study. Circ Heart Fail. 2010 Jul 1;3(4):495-502. Epub 2010 Apr 28. PubMed
Murray ET, Diez Roux AV, Carnethon M, Lutsey PL, Ni H, O'Meara ES. Trajectories of neighborhood poverty and associations with subclinical atherosclerosis and associated risk factors: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Am J Epidemiol. 2010 May 15;171(10):1099-108. Epub 2010 Apr 27. PubMed
Levy D, Neuhausen SL, Hunt SC, Kimura M, Hwang SJ, Chen W, Bis JC, Fitzpatrick AL, Smith E, Johnson AD, Gardner JP, Srinivasan SR, Schork N, Rotter JI, Herbig U, Psaty BM, Sastrasinh M, Murray SS, Vasan RS, Province MA, Glazer NL, Lu X, Cao X, Kronmal R, Mangino M, Soranzo N, Spector TD, Berenson GS, Aviv A. Genome-wide association identifies OBFC1 as a locus involved in human leukocyte telomere biology. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2010 May 18;107(20):9293-8. Epub 2010 Apr 26. PubMed
Dublin S, Glazer NL, Smith NL, Psaty BM, Lumley T, Wiggins KL, Page RL, Heckbert SR. Diabetes mellitus, glycemic control, and risk of atrial fibrillation. J Gen Intern Med. 2010 Aug;25(8):853-8. Epub 2010 Apr 20. 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