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):
Al-Kindi SG, Buzkova P, Shitole SG, Reiner AP, Garg PK, Gottdiener JS, Psaty BM, Kizer JR. Soluble CD14 and risk of heart failure and its subtypes in older adults. J Card Fail. 2020 Mar 9. pii: S1071-9164(19)30779-1. doi: 10.1016/j.cardfail.2020.03.003. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Aladin AI, Al Rifai M, Rasool SH, Dardari Z, Yeboah J, Nasir K, Budoff MJ, Psaty BM, Blumenthal RS, Blaha MJ, McEvoy JW. Relation of coronary artery calcium and extra-coronary aortic calcium to incident hypertension (from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis). Am J Cardiol. 2018;121(2):210-216. doi: 10.1016/j.amjcard.2017.10.018. Epub 2017 Oct 24. PubMed
Alfirevic A, Neely D, Armitage J, Chinoy H, Cooper RG, Laaksonen R, Carr DF, Bloch KM, Fahy J, Hanson A, Yue QY, Wadelius M, van Der Zee AH, Voora D, Psaty BM, Palmer C, Pirmohamed M. Phenotype standardisation for statin-induced myotoxicity. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2014 Oct;96(4):470-6. doi: 10.1038/clpt.2014.121. Epub 2014 Jun 4. PubMed
Allen LA, Yood MU, Wagner EH, Aiello Bowles EJ, Pardee R, Wellman R, Habel L, Nekhlyudov L, Davis RL, Onitilo AA, Magid DJ; for the Pharmacovigilance Research Group. Performance of claims-based algorithms for identifying heart failure and cardiomyopathy among patients diagnosed with breast cancer. Med Care. 2014 May;52(5):e30-8. doi: 10.1097/MLR.0b013e31825a8c22. Epub 2012 May 25. PubMed
Alonso A, Jensen PN, Lopez FL, Chen LY, Psaty BM, Folsom AR, Heckbert SR. Association of sick sinus syndrome with incident cardiovascular disease and mortality: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study and Cardiovascular Health Study. PLoS One. 2014 Oct 6;9(10):e109662. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0109662. eCollection 2014. 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