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):
Peloso GM, Auer PL, Bis JC, Voorman A, Morrison AC, Stitziel NO, Brody JA, Khetarpal SA, Crosby JR, Fornage M, Isaacs A, Jakobsdottir J, Feitosa MF, Davies G, Huffman JE, Manichaikul A, Davis B, Lohman K, Joon AY, Smith AV, Grove ML, Zanoni P, Redon V, Demissie S, Lawson K, Peters U, Carlson C, Jackson RD, Ryckman KK, Mackey RH, Robinson JG, Siscovick DS, Schreiner PJ, Mychaleckyj JC, Pankow JS, Hofman A, Uitterlinden AG, Harris TB, Taylor KD, Stafford JM, Reynolds LM, Marioni RE, Dehghan A, Franco OH, Patel AP, Lu Y, Hindy G, Gottesman O, Bottinger EP, Melander O, Orho-Melander M, Loos RJ, Duga S, Merlini PA, Farrall M, Goel A, Asselta R, Girelli D, Martinelli N, Shah SH, Kraus WE, Li M, Rader DJ, Reilly MP, McPherson R, Watkins H, Ardissino D; NHLBI GO Exome Sequencing Project, Zhang Q, Wang J, Tsai MY, Taylor HA, Correa A, Griswold ME, Lange LA, Starr JM, Rudan I, Eiriksdottir G, Launer LJ, Ordovas JM, Levy D, Chen YD, Reiner AP, Hayward C, Polasek O, Deary IJ, Borecki IB, Liu Y, Gudnason V, Wilson JG, van Duijn CM, Kooperberg C, Rich SS, Psaty BM, Rotter JI, O'Donnell CJ, Rice K, Boerwinkle E, Kathiresan S, Cupples LA. Association of low-frequency and rare coding-sequence variants with blood lipids and coronary heart disease in 56,000 whites and blacks. Am J Hum Genet. 2014 Feb 6;94(2):223-32. doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2014.01.009.
Psaty BM, Weiss NS. 2013 ACC/AHA guideline on the treatment of blood cholesterol: a fresh interpretation of old evidence. JAMA. 2014 Feb 5;311(5):461-2. doi: 10.1001/jama.2013.284203. Epub 2013 Nov 13. PubMed
Liss DT, Fishman PA, Rutter CM, Grembowski D, Ross TR, Reid RJ. Specialty use among patients with treated hypertension in a patient-centered medical home. J Gen Intern Med. 2014 May;29(5):732-40. doi: 10.1007/s11606-014-2776-2. Epub 2014 Feb 4. PubMed
Folsom AR, Lutsey PL, Nambi V, deFilippi CR, Heckbert SR, Cushman M, Ballantyne CM. Troponin T, NT-proBNP, and venous thromboembolism: the Longitudinal Investigation of Thromboembolism Etiology (LITE). Vasc Med. 2014;19(1):33-41. doi: 10.1177/1358863X14520869. PubMed
Malik R, Bevan S, Nalls MA, Holliday EG, Devan WJ, Cheng YC, Ibrahim-Verbaas CA, Verhaaren BF, Bis JC, Joon AY, de Stefano AL, Fornage M, Psaty BM, Ikram MA, Launer LJ, van Duijn CM, Sharma P, Mitchell BD, Rosand J, Meschia JF, Levi C, Rothwell PM, Sudlow C, Markus HS, Seshadri S, Dichgans M; Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium 2. Multilocus genetic risk score associates with ischemic stroke in case-control and prospective cohort studies. Stroke. 2014;45(2):394-402. doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.113.002938. Epub 2014 Jan 16. 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