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):
Campbell CY, Fang BF, Guo X, Peralta CA, Psaty BM, Rich SS, Young JH, Coresh J, Kramer HJ, Rotter JI, Post WS. Associations between genetic variants in the ace, agt, agtr1 and agtr2 genes and renal function in the multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis. Am J Nephrol. 2010 Jul 1;32(2):156-62. PubMed
Burgess S, Thompson SG; CRP CHD Genetics Collaboration, Andrews G, Samani NJ, Hall A, Whincup P, Morris R, Lawlor DA, Davey Smith G, Timpson N, Ebrahim S, Ben-Shlomo Y, Brown M, Ricketts S, Sandhu M, Reiner A, Psaty B, Lange L, Cushman M, Hung J, Thompson P, Beilby J, Warrington N, Palmer LJ, Nordestgaard BG, Tybjaerg-Hansen A, Zacho J, Wu C, Lowe G, Tzoulaki I, Kumari M, Yamamoto JF, Chiodini B, Franzosi M, Hankey GJ, Jamrozik K, Palmer L, Rimm E, Pai J, Heckbert S, Bis J, Anand S, Engert J, Collins R, Clarke R, Melander O, Berglund G, Ladenvall P, Johansson L, Jansson JH, Hallmans G, Hingorani A, Humphries S, Manson J, Watkins H, Hopewell J, Saleheen D, Frossard R, Danesh J, Sattar N, Robertson M, Shepherd J, Schaefer E, Hofman A, Witteman JC, Kardys I, de Faire U, Bennet A, Ford I, Packard C, Casas JP, Smeeth L, Wensley F, Bowden J, Di Angelantonio E, Gao P, Shah T, Verzilli C, Walker M, Whittaker J. Bayesian methods for meta-analysis of causal relationships estimated using genetic instrumental variables. Stat Med. 2010;29(12):1298-311. PubMed
Kalogeropoulos A, Georgiopoulou V, Psaty BM, Rodondi N, Smith AL, Harrison DG, Liu Y, Hoffmann U, Bauer DC, Newman AB, Kritchevsky SB, Harris TB, Butler J. Inflammatory markers and incident heart failure risk in older adults: the Health ABC (Health, Aging, and Body Composition) study. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2010;55(19):2129-37. PubMed
Peralta CA, Li Y, Wassel C, Choudhry S, Palmas W, Seldin MF, Risch N, Siscovick D, Arnett D, Psaty B, Shlipak MG. Differences in albuminuria between Hispanics and whites: an evaluation by genetic ancestry and country of origin: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Circ Cardiovasc Genet. 2010 Jun 1;3(3):240-7. Epub 2010 May 5. PubMed
Smith NL, Felix JF, Morrison AC, Demissie S, Glazer NL, Loehr LR, Cupples LA, Dehghan A, Lumley T, Rosamond WD, Lieb W, Rivadeneira F, Bis JC, Folsom AR, Benjamin EJ, Aulchenko YS, Haritunians T, Couper D, Murabito J, Wang YA, Stricker BH, Gottdiener JS, Chang PP, Wang TJ, Rice KM, Hofman A, Heckbert SR, Fox ER, O'Donnell CJ, Uitterlinden AG, Rotter JI, Willerson JT, Levy D, Vanduijn CM, Psaty BM, Witteman JC, Boerwinkle E, Vasan RS. The association of genome-wide variation with the risk of incident heart failure in adults of European and African ancestry: a prospective meta-analysis from the CHARGE Consortium. Circ Cardiovasc Genet. 2010 Jun 1;3(3):256-66. Epub 2010 May 5. 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