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):
Magnani JW, Brody JA, Prins BP, Arking DE, Lin H, Yin X, Liu CT, Morrison AC, Zhang F, Spector TD, Alonso A, Bis JC, Heckbert SR, Lumley T, Sitlani CM, Cupples LA, Lubitz SA, Soliman EZ, Pulit SL, Newton-Cheh C, O'Donnell CJ, Ellinor PT, Benjamin EJ, Muzny DM, Gibbs RA, Santibanez J, Taylor HA, Rotter JI, Lange LA, Psaty BM, Jackson R, Rich SS, Boerwinkle E, Jamshidi Y, Sotoodehnia N; for CHARGE Consortium, the NHLBI’s Exome Sequencing Project (ESP), and the UK10K. Sequencing of SCN5A identifies rare and common variants associated with cardiac conduction: Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) consortium. Circ Cardiovasc Genet. 2014;7(3):365-73. doi: 10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.113.000098. PubMed
Bis JC, White CC, Franceschini N, Brody J, Zhang X, Muzny D, Santibanez J, Gibbs R, Liu X, Lin H, Boerwinkle E, Psaty BM, North KE, Cupples LA, O'Donnell CJ. Sequencing of 2 subclinical atherosclerosis candidate regions in 3669 individuals: Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) consortium targeted sequencing study. Circ Cardiovasc Genet. 2014;7(3):359-64. doi: 10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.113.000116. PubMed
Lin H, Wang M, Brody JA, Bis JC, Dupuis J, Lumley T, McKnight B, Rice KM, Sitlani CM, Reid JG, Bressler J, Liu X, Davis BC, Johnson AD, O'Donnell CJ, Kovar CL, Dinh H, Wu Y, Newsham I, Chen H, Broka A, DeStefano AL, Gupta M, Lunetta KL, Liu CT, White CC, Xing C, Zhou Y, Benjamin EJ, Schnabel RB, Heckbert SR, Psaty BM, Muzny DM, Cupples LA, Morrison AC, Boerwinkle E. Strategies to design and analyze targeted sequencing data: Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) consortium targeted sequencing study. Circ Cardiovasc Genet. 2014;7(3):335-43. doi: 10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.113.000350. PubMed
Boerwinkle E, Heckbert SR. Following-up genome-wide association study signals: lessons learned from Cohorts for Heart and aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) consortium targeted sequencing study. Circ Cardiovasc Genet. 2014;7(3):332-4. doi: 10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.113.000078. PubMed
Leary PJ, Jenny NS, Barr RG, Bluemke DA, Harhay MO, Heckbert SR, Kronmal RA, Lima JA, Mikacenic C, Tracy RP, Kawut SM. Pentraxin-3 and the right ventricle: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis right ventricle study. Pulm Circ. 2014;4(2):250-9. doi: 10.1086/675988. 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