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):
Irvin MR, Sitlani CM, Floyd JS, Psaty BM, Bis JC, Wiggins KL, Whitsel EA, Sturmer T, Stewart J, Raffield L, Sun F, Liu CT, Xu H, Cupples AL, Tanner RM, Rossing P, Smith A, Zilhao NR, Launer LJ, Noordam R, Rotter JI, Yao J, Li X, Guo X, Limdi N, Sunda+++. Genome wide association study of apparent treatment resistant hypertension in the CHARGE consortium: The CHARGE Pharmacogenetics Working Group. LID - hpz150 [pii] LID - 10.1093/ajh/hpz150 [doi] Am J Hypertens. 2019 Sep 23. pii: 5572670. doi: 10.1093/ajh/hpz150 [Epub ahead of print] PubMed
Teumer A, Li Y, Ghasemi S, Prins BP, Wuttke M, Hermle T, Giri A, Sieber KB, Qiu C, Kirsten H, Tin A, Chu AY, Bansal N, Feitosa MF, Wang L, Chai JF, Cocca M, Fuchsberger C, Gorski M, Hoppmann A, Horn K, Li M, Marten J, Noce D, Nutile T, Sedaghat S, Sveinbjornsson G, Tayo BO, van der Most PJ, Xu Y, Yu Z, Gerstner L, Ärnlöv J, Bakker SJL, Baptista D, Biggs ML, Boerwinkle E, Brenner H, Burkhardt R, Carroll RJ, Chee ML, Chee ML, Chen M, Cheng CY, Cook JP, Coresh J, Corre T, Danesh J, de Borst MH, De Grandi A, de Mutsert R, de Vries APJ, Degenhardt F, Dittrich K, Divers J, Eckardt KU, Ehret G, Endlich K, Felix JF, Franco OH, Franke A, Freedman BI, Freitag-Wolf S, Gansevoort RT, Giedraitis V, Gögele M, Grundner-Culemann F, Gudbjartsson DF, Gudnason V, Hamet P, Harris TB, Hicks AA, Holm H, Foo VHX, Hwang SJ, Ikram MA, Ingelsson E, Jaddoe VWV, Jakobsdottir J, Josyula NS, Jung B, Kähönen M, Khor CC, Kiess W, Koenig W, Körner A, Kovacs P, Kramer H, Krämer BK, Kronenberg F, Lange LA, Langefeld CD, Lee JJ, Lehtimäki T, Lieb W, Lim SC, Lind L, Lindgren CM, Liu J, Loeffler M, Lyytikäinen LP, Mahajan A, Maranville JC, Mascalzoni D, McMullen B, Meisinger C, Meitinger T, Miliku K, Mook-Kanamori DO, Müller-Nurasyid M, Mychaleckyj JC, Nauck M, Nikus K, Ning B, Noordam R, Connell JO, Olafsson I, Palmer ND, Peters A, Podgornaia AI, Ponte B, Poulain T, Pramstaller PP, Rabelink TJ, Raffield LM, Reilly DF, Rettig R, Rheinberger M, Rice KM, Rivadeneira F, Runz H, Ryan KA, Sabanayagam C, Saum KU, Schöttker B, Shaffer CM, Shi Y, Smith AV, Strauch K, Stumvoll M, Sun BB, Szymczak S, Tai ES, Tan NYQ, Taylor KD, Teren A, Tham YC, Thiery J, Thio CHL, Thomsen H, Thorsteinsdottir U, Tönjes A, Tremblay J, Uitterlinden AG, van der Harst P, Verweij N, Vogelezang S, Völker U, Waldenberger M, Wang C, Wilson OD, Wong C, Wong TY, Yang Q, Yasuda M, Akilesh S, Bochud M, Böger CA, Devuyst O, Edwards TL, Ho K, Morris AP, Parsa A, Pendergrass SA, Psaty BM, Rotter JI, Stefansson K, Wilson JG, Susztak K, Snieder H, Heid IM, Scholz M, Butterworth AS, Hung AM, Pattaro C, Köttgen A. Genome-wide association meta-analyses and fine-mapping elucidate pathways influencing albuminuria. Nat Commun. 2019;10(1):4130. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-11576-0. PubMed
Agha G, Mendelson MM, Ward-Caviness CK, Joehanes R, Huan T, Gondalia R, Salfati E, Brody JA, Fiorito G, Bressler J, Chen BH, Ligthart S, Guarrera S, Colicino E, Just AC, Wahl S, Gieger C, Vandiver AR, Tanaka T, Hernandez DG, Pilling LC, Singleton AB, Sacerdote C, Krogh V, Panico S, Tumino R, Li Y, Zhang G, Stewart JD, Floyd JS, Wiggins KL, Rotter JI, Multhaup M, Bakulski K, Horvath S, Tsao PS, Absher DM, Vokonas P, Hirschhorn J, Fallin MD, Liu C, Bandinelli S, Boerwinkle E, Dehghan A, Schwartz JD, Psaty BM, Feinberg AP, Hou L, Ferrucci L, Sotoodehnia N, Matullo G, Peters A, Fornage M, Assimes TL, Whitsel EA, Levy D, Baccarelli AA. Blood leukocyte DNA methylation predicts risk of future myocardial infarction and coronary heart disease. Circulation. 2019 Aug 20;140(8):645-657. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.118.039357. Epub 2019 Aug 19. PubMed
Lindstrom S, Wang L, Smith EN, Gordon W, van Hylckama Vlieg A, de Andrade M, Brody JA, Pattee JW, Haessler J, Brumpton BM, Chasman DI, Suchon P, Chen MH, Turman C, Germain M, Wiggins KL, MacDonald J, Braekkan SK, Armasu SM, Pankratz N, Jackson RD, Nielsen JB, Giulianini F, Puurunen MK, Ibrahim M, Heckbert SR, Damrauer SM, Natarajan P, Klarin D, de Vries PS, Sabater-Lleal M, Huffman JE, Bammler TK, Frazer KA, McCauley BM, Taylor K, Pankow JS, Reiner AP, Gabrielsen ME, Deleuze JF, O'Donnell CJ, Kim J, McKnight B, Kraft P, Hansen JB, Rosendaal FR, Heit JA, Psaty BM, Tang W, Kooperberg C, Hveem K, Ridker PM, Morange PE, Johnson AD, Kabrhel C, Trégouët DA, Smith NL. Genomic and transcriptomic association studies identify 16 novel susceptibility loci for venous thromboembolism. Blood. 2019 Nov 7;134(19):1645-1657. doi: 10.1182/blood.2019000435. PubMed
Deelen J, Evans DS, Arking DE, Tesi N, Nygaard M, Liu X, Wojczynski MK, Biggs ML, van der Spek A, Atzmon G, Ware EB, Sarnowski C, Smith AV, Seppälä I, Cordell HJ, Dose J, Amin N, Arnold AM, Ayers KL, Barzilai N, Becker EJ, Beekman M, Blanché H, Christensen K, Christiansen L, Collerton JC, Cubaynes S, Cummings SR, Davies K, Debrabant B, Deleuze JF, Duncan R, Faul JD, Franceschi C, Galan P, Gudnason V, Harris TB, Huisman M, Hurme MA, Jagger C, Jansen I, Jylhä M, Kähönen M, Karasik D, Kardia SLR, Kingston A, Kirkwood TBL, Launer LJ, Lehtimäki T, Lieb W, Lyytikäinen LP, Martin-Ruiz C, Min J, Nebel A, Newman AB, Nie C, Nohr EA, Orwoll ES, Perls TT, Province MA, Psaty BM, Raitakari OT, Reinders MJT, Robine JM, Rotter JI, Sebastiani P, Smith J, Sørensen TIA, Taylor KD, Uitterlinden AG, van der Flier W, van der Lee SJ, van Duijn CM, van Heemst D, Vaupel JW, Weir D, Ye K, Zeng Y, Zheng W, Holstege H, Kiel DP, Lunetta KL, Slagboom PE, Murabito JM. A meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies identifies multiple longevity genes. Nat Commun. 2019 Aug 14;10(1):3669. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-11558-2. 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