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):
Kilpeläinen TO, Bentley AR, Noordam R, Sung YJ, Schwander K, Winkler TW, Jakupovic H, Chasman DI, Manning A, Ntalla I, Aschard H, Brown MR, de Las Fuentes L, Franceschini N, Guo X, Vojinovic D, Aslibekyan S, Feitosa MF, Kho M, Musani SK, Richard M, Wang H, Wang Z, Bartz TM, Bielak LF, Campbell A, Dorajoo R, Fisher V, Hartwig FP, Horimoto ARVR, Li C, Lohman KK, Marten J, Sim X, Smith AV, Tajuddin SM, Alver M, Amini M, Boissel M, Chai JF, Chen X, Divers J, Evangelou E, Gao C, Graff M, Harris SE, He M, Hsu FC, Jackson AU, Zhao JH, Kraja AT, Kühnel B, Laguzzi F, Lyytikäinen LP, Nolte IM, Rauramaa R, Riaz M, Robino A, Rueedi R, Stringham HM, Takeuchi F, van der Most PJ, Varga TV, Verweij N, Ware EB, Wen W, Li X, Yanek LR, Amin N, Arnett DK, Boerwinkle E, Brumat M, Cade B, Canouil M, Chen YI, Concas MP, Connell J, de Mutsert R, de Silva HJ, de Vries PS, Demirkan A, Ding J, Eaton CB, Faul JD, Friedlander Y, Gabriel KP, Ghanbari M, Giulianini F, Gu CC, Gu D, Harris TB, He J, Heikkinen S, Heng CK, Hunt SC, Ikram MA, Jonas JB, Koh WP, Komulainen P, Krieger JE, Kritchevsky SB, Kutalik Z, Kuusisto J, Langefeld CD, Langenberg C, Launer LJ, Leander K, Lemaitre RN, Lewis CE, Liang J; Lifelines Cohort Study, Liu J, Mägi R, Manichaikul A, Meitinger T, Metspalu A, Milaneschi Y, Mohlke KL, Mosley TH Jr, Murray AD, Nalls MA, Nang EK, Nelson CP, Nona S, Norris JM, Nwuba CV, O'Connell J, Palmer ND, Papanicolau GJ, Pazoki R, Pedersen NL, Peters A, Peyser PA, Polasek O, Porteous DJ, Poveda A, Raitakari OT, Rich SS, Risch N, Robinson JG, Rose LM, Rudan I, Schreiner PJ, Scott RA, Sidney SS, Sims M, Smith JA, Snieder H, Sofer T, Starr JM, Sternfeld B, Strauch K, Tang H, Taylor KD, Tsai MY, Tuomilehto J, Uitterlinden AG, van der Ende MY, van Heemst D, Voortman T, Waldenberger M, Wennberg P, Wilson G, Xiang YB, Yao J, Yu C, Yuan JM, Zhao W, Zonderman AB, Becker DM, Boehnke M, Bowden DW, de Faire U, Deary IJ, Elliott P, Esko T, Freedman BI, Froguel P, Gasparini P, Gieger C, Kato N, Laakso M, Lakka TA, Lehtimäki T, Magnusson PKE, Oldehinkel AJ, Penninx BWJH, Samani NJ, Shu XO, van der Harst P, Van Vliet-Ostaptchouk JV, Vollenweider P, Wagenknecht LE, Wang YX, Wareham NJ, Weir DR, Wu T, Zheng W, Zhu X, Evans MK, Franks PW, Gudnason V, Hayward C, Horta BL, Kelly TN, Liu Y, North KE, Pereira AC, Ridker PM, Tai ES, van Dam RM, Fox ER, Kardia SLR, Liu CT, Mook-Kanamori DO, Province MA, Redline S, van Duijn CM, Rotter JI, Kooperberg CB, Gauderman WJ, Psaty BM, Rice K, Munroe PB, Fornage M, Cupples LA, Rotimi CN, Morrison AC, Rao DC, Loos RJF. Multi-ancestry study of blood lipid levels identifies four loci interacting with physical activity. Nat Commun. 2019;10(1):376. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-08008-w. PubMed
Lindström S, Brody JA, Turman C, Germain M, Bartz TM, Smith EN, Chen MH, Puurunen M, Chasman D, Hassler J, Pankratz N, Basu S, Guan W, Gyorgy B, Ibrahim M, Empana JP, Olaso R, Jackson R, Braekkan SK, McKnight B, Deleuze JF, O'Donnell CJ, Jouven X, Frazer KA, Psaty BM, Wiggins KL, Taylor K, Reiner AP, Heckbert SR, Kooperberg C, Ridker P, Hansen JB, Tang W, Johnson AD, Morange PE, Trégouët DA, Kraft P, Smith NL, Kabrhel C; INVENT Consortium. A large-scale exome array analysis of venous thromboembolism. Genet Epidemiol. 2019 Jun;43(4):449-457. doi: 10.1002/gepi.22187. Epub 2019 Jan 19. PubMed
Timmers PR, Mounier N, Lall K, Fischer K, Ning Z, Feng X, Bretherick AD, Clark DW; eQTLGen Consortium, Agbessi M, Ahsan H, Alves I, Andiappan A, Awadalla P, Battle A, Bonder MJ, Boomsma D, Christiansen M, Claringbould A, Deelen P, van Dongen J, Esko T, Favé M, Franke L, Frayling T, Gharib SA, Gibson G, Hemani G, Jansen R, Kalnapenkis A, Kasela S, Kettunen J, Kim Y, Kirsten H, Kovacs P, Krohn K, Kronberg-Guzman J, Kukushkina V, Kutalik Z, Kähönen M, Lee B, Lehtimäki T, Loeffler M, Marigorta U, Metspalu A, van Meurs J, Milani L, Müller-Nurasyid M, Nauck M, Nivard M, Penninx B, Perola M, Pervjakova N, Pierce B, Powell J, Prokisch H, Psaty BM, Raitakari O, Ring S, Ripatti S, Rotzschke O, Ruëger S, Saha A, Scholz M, Schramm K, Seppälä I, Stumvoll M, Sullivan P, Teumer A, Thiery J, Tong L, Tönjes A, Verlouw J, Visscher PM, Võsa U, Völker U, Yaghootkar H, Yang J, Zeng B, Zhang F, Agbessi M, Ahsan H, Alves I, Andiappan A, Awadalla P, Battle A, Bonder MJ, Boomsma D, Christiansen M, Claringbould A, Deelen P, van Dongen J, Esko T, Favé M, Franke L, Frayling T, Gharib SA, Gibson G, Hemani G, Jansen R, Kalnapenkis A, Kasela S, Kettunen J, Kim Y, Kirsten H, Kovacs P, Krohn K, Kronberg-Guzman J, Kukushkina V, Kutalik Z, Kähönen M, Lee B, Lehtimäki T, Loeffler M, Marigorta U, Metspalu A, van Meurs J, Milani L, Müller-Nurasyid M, Nauck M, Nivard M, Penninx B, Perola M, Pervjakova N, Pierce B, Powell J, Prokisch H, Psaty BM, Raitakari O, Ring S, Ripatti S, Rotzschke O, Ruëger S, Saha A, Scholz M, Schramm K, Seppälä I, Stumvoll M, Sullivan P, Teumer A, Thiery J, Tong L, Tönjes A, Verlouw J, Visscher PM, Võsa U, Völker U, Yaghootkar H, Yang J, Zeng B, Zhang F, Shen X, Esko T, Kutalik Z, Wilson JF, Joshi PK. Genomics of 1 million parent lifespans implicates novel pathways and common diseases and distinguishes survival chances. Elife. 2019;8. pii: 39856. doi: 10.7554/eLife.39856. PubMed
de Vries PS, Sabater-Lleal M, Huffman JE, Marten J, Song C, Pankratz N, Bartz TM, de Haan HG, Delgado GE, Eicher JD, Martinez-Perez A, Ward-Caviness CK, Brody JA, Chen MH, de Maat MPM, Frånberg M, Gill D, Kleber ME, Rivadeneira F, Soria JM, Tang W, Tofler GH, Uitterlinden AG, van Hylckama Vlieg A, Seshadri S, Boerwinkle E, Davies NM, Giese AK, Ikram MK, Kittner SJ, McKnight B, Psaty BM, Reiner AP, Sargurupremraj M, Taylor KD, Fornage M, Hamsten A, März W, Rosendaal FR, Souto JC, Dehghan A, Johnson AD, Morrison AC, O'Donnell CJ, Smith NL. A genome-wide association study identifies new loci for factor VII and implicates factor VII in ischemic stroke etiology. Blood. 2019 Feb 28;133(9):967-977. doi: 10.1182/blood-2018-05-849240. Epub 2019 Jan 14. PubMed
Giri A, Hellwege JN, Keaton JM, Park J, Qiu C, Warren HR, Torstenson ES, Kovesdy CP, Sun YV, Wilson OD, Robinson-Cohen C, Roumie CL, Chung CP, Birdwell KA, Damrauer SM, DuVall SL, Klarin D, Cho K, Wang Y, Evangelou E, Cabrera CP, Wain LV, Shrestha R, Mautz BS, Akwo EA, Sargurupremraj M, Debette S, Boehnke M, Scott LJ, Luan J, Zhao JH, Willems SM, Thériault S, Shah N, Oldmeadow C, Almgren P, Li-Gao R, Verweij N, Boutin TS, Mangino M, Ntalla I, Feofanova E, Surendran P, Cook JP, Karthikeyan S, Lahrouchi N, Liu C, Sepúlveda N, Richardson TG, Kraja A, Amouyel P, Farrall M, Poulter NR; Understanding Society Scientific Group; International Consortium for Blood Pressure; Blood Pressure-International Consortium of Exome Chip Studies, Laakso M, Zeggini E, Sever P, Scott RA, Langenberg C, Wareham NJ, Conen D, Palmer CNA, Attia J, Chasman DI, Ridker PM, Melander O, Mook-Kanamori DO, Harst PV, Cucca F, Schlessinger D, Hayward C, Spector TD, Jarvelin MR, Hennig BJ, Timpson NJ, Wei WQ, Smith JC, Xu Y, Matheny ME, Siew EE, Lindgren C, Herzig KH, Dedoussis G, Denny JC, Psaty BM, Howson JMM, Munroe PB, Newton-Cheh C, Caulfield MJ, Elliott P, Gaziano JM, Concato J, Wilson PWF, Tsao PS, Velez Edwards DR, Susztak K; Million Veteran Program, O'Donnell CJ, Hung AM, Edwards TL. Trans-ethnic association study of blood pressure determinants in over 750,000 individuals. Nat Genet. 2019;51(1):51-62. doi: 10.1038/s41588-018-0303-9. Epub 2018 Dec 21. PubMed
![]() Sascha Dublin, MD, PhDSenior Investigator |
![]() Beverly B. Green, MD, MPHSenior Investigator |
![]() Laura Harrington, PhD, MPHAssociate 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