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):
Ng MCY, Graff M, Lu Y, Justice AE, Mudgal P, Liu CT, Young K, Yanek LR, Feitosa MF, Wojczynski MK, Rand K, Brody JA, Cade BE, Dimitrov L, Duan Q, Guo X, Lange LA, Nalls MA, Okut H, Tajuddin SM, Tayo BO, Vedantam S, Bradfield JP, Chen G, Chen WM, Chesi A, Irvin MR, Padhukasahasram B, Smith JA, Zheng W, Allison MA, Ambrosone CB, Bandera EV, Bartz TM, Berndt SI, Bernstein L, Blot WJ, Bottinger EP, Carpten J, Chanock SJ, Chen YI, Conti DV, Cooper RS, Fornage M, Freedman BI, Garcia M, Goodman PJ, Hsu YH, Hu J, Huff CD, Ingles SA, John EM, Kittles R, Klein E, Li J, McKnight B, Nayak U, Nemesure B, Ogunniyi A, Olshan A, Press MF, Rohde R, Rybicki BA, Salako B, Sanderson M, Shao Y, Siscovick DS, Stanford JL, Stevens VL, Stram A, Strom SS, Vaidya D, Witte JS, Yao J, Zhu X, Ziegler RG, Zonderman AB, Adeyemo A, Ambs S, Cushman M, Faul JD, Hakonarson H, Levin AM, Nathanson KL, Ware EB, Weir DR, Zhao W, Zhi D; Bone Mineral Density in Childhood Study (BMDCS) Group., Arnett DK, Grant SFA, Kardia SLR, Oloapde OI, Rao DC, Rotimi CN, Sale MM, Williams LK, Zemel BS, Becker DM, Borecki IB, Evans MK, Harris TB, Hirschhorn JN, Li Y, Patel SR, Psaty BM, Rotter JI, Wilson JG, Bowden DW, Cupples LA, Haiman CA, Loos RJF, North KE. Discovery and fine-mapping of adiposity loci using high density imputation of genome-wide association studies in individuals of African ancestry: African ancestry anthropometry genetics consortium. PLoS Genet. 2017 Apr 21;13(4):e1006719. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1006719. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Psaty BM, Merrill JO. Addressing the opioid epidemic - opportunities in the postmarketing setting. N Engl J Med. 2017;376(16):1502-1504. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp1614972. PubMed
Christophersen IE, Rienstra M, Roselli C, Yin X, Geelhoed B, Barnard J, Lin H, Arking DE, Smith AV, Albert CM, Chaffin M, Tucker NR, Li M, Klarin D, Bihlmeyer NA, Low SK, Weeke PE, Müller-Nurasyid M, Smith JG, Brody JA, Niemeijer MN, Dörr M, Trompet S, Huffman J, Gustafsson S, Schurmann C, Kleber ME, Lyytikäinen LP, Seppälä I, Malik R, Horimoto ARVR, Perez M, Sinisalo J, Aeschbacher S, Thériault S, Yao J, Radmanesh F, Weiss S, Teumer A, Choi SH, Weng LC, Clauss S, Deo R, Rader DJ, Shah SH, Sun A, Hopewell JC, Debette S, Chauhan G, Yang Q, Worrall BB, Paré G, Kamatani Y, Hagemeijer YP, Verweij N, Siland JE, Kubo M, Smith JD, Van Wagoner DR, Bis JC, Perz S, Psaty BM, Ridker PM, Magnani JW, Harris TB, Launer LJ, Shoemaker MB, Padmanabhan S, Haessler J, Bartz TM, Waldenberger M, Lichtner P, Arendt M, Krieger JE, Kähönen M, Risch L, Mansur AJ, Peters A, Smith BH, Lind L, Scott SA, Lu Y, Bottinger EB, Hernesniemi J, Lindgren CM, Wong JA, Huang J, Eskola M, Morris AP, Ford I, Reiner AP, Delgado G, Chen LY, Chen YI, Sandhu RK, Li M, Boerwinkle E, Eisele L, Lannfelt L, Rost N, Anderson CD, Taylor KD, Campbell A, Magnusson PK, Porteous D, Hocking LJ, Vlachopoulou E, Pedersen NL, Nikus K, Orho-Melander M, Hamsten A, Heeringa J, Denny JC, Kriebel J, Darbar D, Newton-Cheh C, Shaffer C, Macfarlane PW, Heilmann-Heimbach S, Almgren P, Huang PL, Sotoodehnia N, Soliman EZ, Uitterlinden AG, Hofman A, Franco OH, Völker U, Jöckel KH, Sinner MF, Lin HJ, Guo X; METASTROKE Consortium of the ISGC.; Neurology Working Group of the CHARGE Consortium., Dichgans M, Ingelsson E, Kooperberg C, Melander O, Loos RJF, Laurikka J, Conen D, Rosand J, van der Harst P, Lokki ML, Kathiresan S, Pereira A, Jukema JW, Hayward C, Rotter JI, März W, Lehtimäki T, Stricker BH, Chung MK, Felix SB, Gudnason V, Alonso A, Roden DM, Kääb S, Chasman DI, Heckbert SR, Benjamin EJ, Tanaka T, Lunetta KL, Lubitz SA, Ellinor PT; AFGen Consortium. Large-scale analyses of common and rare variants identify 12 new loci associated with atrial fibrillation. Nat Genet. 2017 Apr 17. doi: 10.1038/ng.3843. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Wild PS, Felix JF, Schillert A, Teumer A, Chen MH, Leening MJ, Völker U, Großmann V, Brody JA, Irvin MR, Shah SJ, Pramana S, Lieb W, Schmidt R, Stanton AV, Malzahn D, Smith AV, Sundström J, Minelli C, Ruggiero D, Lyytikäinen LP, Tiller D, Smith JG, Monnereau C, Di Tullio MR, Musani SK, Morrison AC, Pers TH, Morley M, Kleber ME, Aragam J, Benjamin EJ, Bis JC, Bisping E, Broeckel U, Cheng S, Deckers JW, Del Greco M F, Edelmann F, Fornage M, Franke L, Friedrich N, Harris TB, Hofer E, Hofman A, Huang J, Hughes AD, Kähönen M, Investigators K, Kruppa J, Lackner KJ, Lannfelt L, Laskowski R, Launer LJ, Leosdottir M, Lin H, Lindgren CM, Loley C, MacRae CA, Mascalzoni D, Mayet J, Medenwald D, Morris AP, Müller C, Müller-Nurasyid M, Nappo S, Nilsson PM, Nuding S, Nutile T, Peters A, Pfeufer A, Pietzner D, Pramstaller PP, Raitakari OT, Rice KM, Rivadeneira F, Rotter JI, Ruohonen ST, Sacco RL, Samdarshi TE, Schmidt H, Sharp AS, Shields DC, Sorice R, Sotoodehnia N, Stricker BH, Surendran P, Thom S, Töglhofer AM, Uitterlinden AG, Wachter R, Völzke H, Ziegler A, Münzel T, März W, Cappola TP, Hirschhorn JN, Mitchell GF, Smith NL, Fox ER, Dueker ND, Jaddoe VW, Melander O, Russ M, Lehtimäki T, Ciullo M, Hicks AA, Lind L, Gudnason V, Pieske B, Barron AJ, Zweiker R, Schunkert H, Ingelsson E, Liu K, Arnett DK, Psaty BM, Blankenberg S, Larson MG, Felix SB, Franco OH, Zeller T, Vasan RS, Dörr M. Large-scale genome-wide analysis identifies genetic variants associated with cardiac structure and function. J Clin Invest. 2017 Apr 10. pii: 84840. doi: 10.1172/JCI84840. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
van den Berg ME, Warren HR, Cabrera CP, Verweij N, Mifsud B, Haessler J, Bihlmeyer NA, Fu YP, Weiss S, Lin HJ, Grarup N, Li-Gao R, Pistis G, Shah N, Brody JA, Müller-Nurasyid M, Lin H, Mei H, Smith AV, Lyytikäinen LP, Hall LM, van Setten J, Trompet S, Prins BP, Isaacs A, Radmanesh F, Marten J, Entwistle A, Kors JA, Silva CT, Alonso A, Bis JC, de Boer R, de Haan HG, de Mutsert R, Dedoussis G, Dominiczak AF, Doney AS, Ellinor PT, Eppinga RN, Felix SB, Guo X, Hagemeijer Y, Hansen T, Harris TB, Heckbert SR, Huang PL, Hwang SJ, Kähönen M, Kanters JK, Kolcic I, Launer LJ, Li M, Yao J, Linneberg A, Liu S, Macfarlane PW, Mangino M, Morris AD, Mulas A, Murray AD, Nelson CP, Orrú M, Padmanabhan S, Peters A, Porteous DJ, Poulter N, Psaty BM, Qi L, Raitakari OT, Rivadeneira F, Roselli C, Rudan I, Sattar N, Sever P, Sinner MF, Soliman EZ, Spector TD, Stanton AV, Stirrups KE, Taylor KD, Tobin MD, Uitterlinden A, Vaartjes I, Hoes AW, van der Meer P, Völker U, Waldenberger M, Xie Z, Zoledziewska M, Tinker A, Polasek O, Rosand J, Jamshidi Y, van Duijn CM, Zeggini E, Wouter Jukema J, Asselbergs FW, Samani NJ, Lehtimäki T, Gudnason V, Wilson J, Lubitz SA, Kääb S, Sotoodehnia N, Caulfield MJ, Palmer CN, Sanna S, Mook-Kanamori DO, Deloukas P, Pedersen O, Rotter JI, Dörr M, O'Donnell CJ, Hayward C, Arking DE, Kooperberg C, van der Harst P, Eijgelsheim M, Stricker BH, Munroe PB. Discovery of novel heart rate-associated loci using the Exome Chip. Hum Mol Genet. 2017 Jun 15;26(12):2346-2363. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddx113. 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