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):
Roselli C, Chaffin MD, Weng LC, Aeschbacher S, Ahlberg G, Albert CM, Almgren P, Alonso A, Anderson CD, Aragam KG, Arking DE, Barnard J, Bartz TM, Benjamin EJ, Bihlmeyer NA, Bis JC, Bloom HL, Boerwinkle E, Bottinger EB, Brody JA, Calkins H, Campbell A, Cappola TP, Carlquist J, Chasman DI, Chen LY, Chen YI, Choi EK, Choi SH, Christophersen IE, Chung MK, Cole JW, Conen D, Cook J, Crijns HJ, Cutler MJ, Damrauer SM, Daniels BR, Darbar D, Delgado G, Denny JC, Dichgans M, Dörr M, Dudink EA, Dudley SC, Esa N, Esko T, Eskola M, Fatkin D, Felix SB, Ford I, Franco OH, Geelhoed B, Grewal RP, Gudnason V, Guo X, Gupta N, Gustafsson S, Gutmann R, Hamsten A, Harris TB, Hayward C, Heckbert SR, Hernesniemi J, Hocking LJ, Hofman A, Horimoto ARVR, Huang J, Huang PL, Huffman J, Ingelsson E, Ipek EG, Ito K, Jimenez-Conde J, Johnson R, Jukema JW, Kääb S, Kähönen M, Kamatani Y, Kane JP, Kastrati A, Kathiresan S, Katschnig-Winter P, Kavousi M, Kessler T, Kietselaer BL, Kirchhof P, Kleber ME, Knight S, Krieger JE, Kubo M, Launer LJ, Laurikka J, Lehtimäki T, Leineweber K, Lemaitre RN, Li M, Lim HE, Lin HJ, Lin H, Lind L, Lindgren CM, Lokki ML, London B, Loos RJF, Low SK, Lu Y, Lyytikäinen LP, Macfarlane PW, Magnusson PK, Mahajan A, Malik R, Mansur AJ, Marcus GM, Margolin L, Margulies KB, März W, McManus DD, Melander O, Mohanty S, Montgomery JA, Morley MP, Morris AP, Müller-Nurasyid M, Natale A, Nazarian S, Neumann B, Newton-Cheh C, Niemeijer MN, Nikus K, Nilsson P, Noordam R, Oellers H, Olesen MS, Orho-Melander M, Padmanabhan S, Pak HN, Paré G, Pedersen NL, Pera J, Pereira A, Porteous D, Psaty BM, Pulit SL, Pullinger CR, Rader DJ, Refsgaard L, Ribasés M, Ridker PM, Rienstra M, Risch L, Roden DM, Rosand J, Rosenberg MA, Rost N, Rotter JI, Saba S, Sandhu RK, Schnabel RB, Schramm K, Schunkert H, Schurman C, Scott SA, Seppälä I, Shaffer C, Shah S, Shalaby AA, Shim J, Shoemaker MB, Siland JE, Sinisalo J, Sinner MF, Slowik A, Smith AV, Smith BH, Smith JG, Smith JD, Smith NL, Soliman EZ, Sotoodehnia N, Stricker BH, Sun A, Sun H, Svendsen JH, Tanaka T, Tanriverdi K, Taylor KD, Teder-Laving M, Teumer A, Thériault S, Trompet S, Tucker NR, Tveit A, Uitterlinden AG, Van Der Harst P, Van Gelder IC, Van Wagoner DR, Verweij N, Vlachopoulou E, Völker U, Wang B, Weeke PE, Weijs B, Weiss R, Weiss S, Wells QS, Wiggins KL, Wong JA, Woo D, Worrall BB, Yang PS, Yao J, Yoneda ZT, Zeller T, Zeng L, Lubitz SA, Lunetta KL, Ellinor PT. Multi-ethnic genome-wide association study for atrial fibrillation. Nat Genet. 2018 Jun 11;50(9):1225-1233. doi: 10.1038/s41588-018-0133-9. PubMed
Irvin MR, Sitlani CM, Noordam R, Avery CL, Bis JC, Floyd JS, Li J, Limdi NA, Srinivasasainagendra V, Stewart J, de Mutsert R, Mook-Kanamori DO, Lipovich L, Kleinbrink EL, Smith A, Bartz TM, Whitsel EA, Uitterlinden AG, Wiggins KL, Wilson JG, Zhi D, Stricker BH, Rotter JI, Arnett DK, Psaty BM, Lange LA. Genome-wide meta-analysis of SNP-by9-ACEI/ARB and SNP-by-thiazide diuretic and effect on serum potassium in cohorts of European and African ancestry. Pharmacogenomics J. 2018 Jun 1. doi: 10.1038/s41397-018-0021-9. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Davies G, Lam M, Harris SE, Trampush JW, Luciano M, Hill WD, Hagenaars SP, Ritchie SJ, Marioni RE, Fawns-Ritchie C, Liewald DCM, Okely JA, Ahola-Olli AV, Barnes CLK, Bertram L, Bis JC, Burdick KE, Christoforou A, DeRosse P, Djurovic S, Espeseth T, Giakoumaki S, Giddaluru S, Gustavson DE, Hayward C, Hofer E, Ikram MA, Karlsson R, Knowles E, Lahti J, Leber M, Li S, Mather KA, Melle I, Morris D, Oldmeadow C, Palviainen T, Payton A, Pazoki R, Petrovic K, Reynolds CA, Sargurupremraj M, Scholz M, Smith JA, Smith AV, Terzikhan N, Thalamuthu A, Trompet S, van der Lee SJ, Ware EB, Windham BG, Wright MJ, Yang J, Yu J, Ames D, Amin N, Amouyel P, Andreassen OA, Armstrong NJ, Assareh AA, Attia JR, Attix D, Avramopoulos D, Bennett DA, Böhmer AC, Boyle PA, Brodaty H, Campbell H, Cannon TD, Cirulli ET, Congdon E, Conley ED, Corley J, Cox SR, Dale AM, Dehghan A, Dick D, Dickinson D, Eriksson JG, Evangelou E, Faul JD, Ford I, Freimer NA, Gao H, Giegling I, Gillespie NA, Gordon SD, Gottesman RF, Griswold ME, Gudnason V, Harris TB, Hartmann AM, Hatzimanolis A, Heiss G, Holliday EG, Joshi PK, Kähönen M, Kardia SLR, Karlsson I, Kleineidam L, Knopman DS, Kochan NA, Konte B, Kwok JB, Le Hellard S, Lee T, Lehtimäki T, Li SC, Liu T, Koini M, London E, Longstreth WT Jr, Lopez OL, Loukola A, Luck T, Lundervold AJ, Lundquist A, Lyytikäinen LP, Martin NG, Montgomery GW, Murray AD, Need AC, Noordam R, Nyberg L, Ollier W, Papenberg G, Pattie A, Polasek O, Poldrack RA, Psaty BM, Reppermund S, Riedel-Heller SG, Rose RJ, Rotter JI, Roussos P, Rovio SP, Saba Y, Sabb FW, Sachdev PS, Satizabal CL, Schmid M, Scott RJ, Scult MA, Simino J, Slagboom PE, Smyrnis N, Soumaré A, Stefanis NC, Stott DJ, Straub RE, Sundet K, Taylor AM, Taylor KD, Tzoulaki I, Tzourio C, Uitterlinden A, Vitart V, Voineskos AN, Kaprio J, Wagner M, Wagner H, Weinhold L, Wen KH, Widen E, Yang Q, Zhao W, Adams HHH, Arking DE, Bilder RM, Bitsios P, Boerwinkle E, Chiba-Falek O, Corvin A, De Jager PL, Debette S, Donohoe G, Elliott P, Fitzpatrick AL, Gill M, Glahn DC, Hägg S, Hansell NK, Hariri AR, Ikram MK, Jukema JW, Vuoksimaa E, Keller MC, Kremen WS, Launer L, Lindenberger U, Palotie A, Pedersen NL, Pendleton N, Porteous DJ, Räikkönen K, Raitakari OT, Ramirez A, Reinvang I, Rudan I, Dan Rujescu, Schmidt R, Schmidt H, Schofield PW, Schofield PR, Starr JM, Steen VM, Trollor JN, Turner ST, Van Duijn CM, Villringer A, Weinberger DR, Weir DR, Wilson JF, Malhotra A, McIntosh AM, Gale CR, Seshadri S, Mosley TH Jr, Bressler J, Lencz T, Deary IJ. Study of 300,486 individuals identifies 148 independent genetic loci influencing general cognitive function. Nat Commun. 2018;9(1):2098. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04362-x. PubMed
Lin H, van Setten J, Smith AV, Bihlmeyer NA, Warren HR, Brody JA, Radmanesh F, Hall L, Grarup N, Müller-Nurasyid M, Boutin T, Verweij N, Lin HJ, Li-Gao R, van den Berg ME, Marten J, Weiss S, Prins BP, Haessler J, Lyytikäinen LP, Mei H, Harris TB, Launer LJ, Li M, Alonso A, Soliman EZ, Connell JM, Huang PL, Weng LC, Jameson HS, Hucker W, Hanley A, Tucker NR, Chen YI, Bis JC, Rice KM, Sitlani CM, Kors JA, Xie Z, Wen C, Magnani JW, Nelson CP, Kanters JK, Sinner MF, Strauch K, Peters A, Waldenberger M, Meitinger T, Bork-Jensen J, Pedersen O, Linneberg A, Rudan I, de Boer RA, van der Meer P, Yao J, Guo X, Taylor KD, Sotoodehnia N, Rotter JI, Mook-Kanamori DO, Trompet S, Rivadeneira F, Uitterlinden A, Eijgelsheim M, Padmanabhan S, Smith BH, Völzke H, Felix SB, Homuth G, Völker U, Mangino M, Spector TD, Bots ML, Perez M, Kähönen M, Raitakari OT, Gudnason V, Arking DE, Munroe PB, Psaty BM, van Duijn CM, Benjamin EJ, Rosand J, Samani NJ, Hansen T, Kääb S, Polasek O, van der Harst P, Heckbert SR, Jukema JW, Stricker BH, Hayward C, Dörr M, Jamshidi Y, Asselbergs FW, Kooperberg C, Lehtimäki T, Wilson JG, Ellinor PT, Lubitz SA, Isaacs A. Common and rare coding genetic variation underlying the electrocardiographic PR interval. Circ Genom Precis Med. 2018;11(5):e002037. doi: 10.1161/CIRCGEN.117.002037. PubMed
Macri V, Brody JA, Arking DE, Hucker WJ, Yin X, Lin H, Mills RW, Sinner MF, Lubitz SA, Liu CT, Morrison AC, Alonso A, Li N, Fedorov VV, Janssen PM, Bis JC, Heckbert SR, Dolmatova EV, Lumley T, Sitlani CM, Cupples LA, Pulit SL, Newton-Cheh C, Barnard J, Smith JD, Van Wagoner DR, Chung MK, Vlahakes GJ, O'Donnell CJ, Rotter JI, Margulies KB, Morley MP, Cappola TP, Benjamin EJ, Muzny D, Gibbs RA, Jackson RD, Magnani JW, Herndon CN, Rich SS, Psaty BM, Milan DJ, Boerwinkle E, Mohler PJ, Sotoodehnia N, Ellinor PT. Common coding variants in SCN10A are associated with the Nav1.8 late current and cardiac conduction. Circ Genom Precis Med. 2018;11(5):e001663. doi: 10.1161/CIRCGEN.116.001663. 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