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):
Peters MJ, Joehanes R, Pilling LC, Schurmann C, Conneely KN, Powell J, Reinmaa E, Sutphin GL, Zhernakova A, Schramm K, Wilson YA, Kobes S, Tukiainen T; NABEC/UKBEC Consortium, Ramos YF, Göring HH, Fornage M, Liu Y, Gharib SA, Stranger BE, De Jager PL, Aviv A, Levy D, Murabito JM, Munson PJ, Huan T, Hofman A, Uitterlinden AG, Rivadeneira F, van Rooij J, Stolk L, Broer L, Verbiest MM, Jhamai M, Arp P, Metspalu A, Tserel L, Milani L, Samani NJ, Peterson P, Kasela S, Codd V, Peters A, Ward-Caviness CK, Herder C, Waldenberger M, Roden M, Singmann P, Zeilinger S, Illig T, Homuth G, Grabe HJ, Völzke H, Steil L, Kocher T, Murray A, Melzer D, Yaghootkar H, Bandinelli S, Moses EK, Kent JW, Curran JE, Johnson MP, Williams-Blangero S, Westra HJ, McRae AF, Smith JA, Kardia SL, Hovatta I, Perola M, Ripatti S, Salomaa V, Henders AK, Martin NG, Smith AK, Mehta D, Binder EB, Nylocks KM, Kennedy EM, Klengel T, Ding J, Suchy-Dicey AM, Enquobahrie DA, Brody J, Rotter JI, Chen YD, Houwing-Duistermaat J, Kloppenburg M, Slagboom PE, Helmer Q, den Hollander W, Bean S, Raj T, Bakhshi N, Wang QP, Oyston LJ, Psaty BM, Tracy RP, Montgomery GW, Turner ST, Blangero J, Meulenbelt I, Ressler KJ, Yang J, Franke L, Kettunen J, Visscher PM, Neely GG, Korstanje R, Hanson RL, Prokisch H, Ferrucci L, Esko T, Teumer A, van Meurs JB, Johnson AD. The transcriptional landscape of age in human peripheral blood. Nat Commun. 2015 Oct 22;6:8570. doi: 10.1038/ncomms9570. PubMed
Green BB. BP here, there, and everywhere - mobile health applications (apps) and hypertension care. J Am Soc Hypertens. 2015 Feb;9(2):137-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jash.2014.12.010. Epub 2014 Dec 24. PubMed
Steffen BT, Guan W, Remaley AT, Paramsothy P, Heckbert SR, McClelland RL, Greenland P, Michos ED, Tsai MY. Use of lipoprotein particle measures for assessing coronary heart disease risk post-American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology guidelines: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2015 Feb;35(2):448-54. doi: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.114.304349. Epub 2014 Dec 4. PubMed
Yuan R, Yuan R. Neither here nor there: impending paradoxical embolism. Am J Med. 2014 Dec;127(12):1169-71. doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2014.08.001. Epub 2014 Aug 15.
Burgess CP, Sinclair G, Ramjan M, Coffey PJ, Connors CM, Katekar LV. Strengthening cardiovascular disease prevention in remote indigenous communities in Australia's Northern Territory. Heart Lung Circ. 2015 May;24(5):450-7. doi: 10.1016/j.hlc.2014.11.008. Epub 2014 Nov 29.
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