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):
Bellettiere J, LaMonte MJ, Evenson KR, Rillamas-Sun E, Kerr J, Lee IM, Di C, Rosenberg DE, Stefanick M, Buchner DM, Hovell MF, LaCroix AZ. Sedentary behavior and cardiovascular disease in older women: the Objective Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health (OPACH) Study. Circulation. 2019 Feb 19;139(8):1036-1046. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.118.035312. PubMed
Karasik D, Zillikens MC, Hsu YH, Aghdassi A, Akesson K, Amin N, Barroso I, Bennett DA, Bertram L, Bochud M, Borecki IB, Broer L, Buchman AS, Byberg L, Campbell H, Campos-Obando N, Cauley JA, Cawthon PM, Chambers JC, Chen Z, Cho NH, Choi HJ, Chou WC, Cummings SR, de Groot LCPGM, De Jager PL, Demuth I, Diatchenko L, Econs MJ, Eiriksdottir G, Enneman AW, Eriksson J, Eriksson JG, Estrada K, Evans DS, Feitosa MF, Fu M, Gieger C, Grallert H, Gudnason V, Lenore LJ, Hayward C, Hofman A, Homuth G, Huffman KM, Husted LB, Illig T, Ingelsson E, Ittermann T, Jansson JO, Johnson T, Biffar R, Jordan JM, Jula A, Karlsson M, Khaw KT, Kilpeläinen TO, Klopp N, Kloth JSL, Koller DL, Kooner JS, Kraus WE, Kritchevsky S, Kutalik Z, Kuulasmaa T, Kuusisto J, Laakso M, Lahti J, Lang T, Langdahl BL, Lerch MM, Lewis JR, Lill C, Lind L, Lindgren C, Liu Y, Livshits G, Ljunggren Ö, Loos RJF, Lorentzon M, Luan J, Luben RN, Malkin I, McGuigan FE, Medina-Gomez C, Meitinger T, Melhus H, Mellström D, Michaëlsson K, Mitchell BD, Morris AP, Mosekilde L, Nethander M, Newman AB, O'Connell JR, Oostra BA, Orwoll ES, Palotie A, Peacock M, Perola M, Peters A, Prince RL, Psaty BM, Räikkönen K, Ralston SH, Ripatti S, Rivadeneira F, Robbins JA, Rotter JI, Rudan I, Salomaa V, Satterfield S, Schipf S, Shin CS, Smith AV, Smith SB, Soranzo N, Spector TD, Stancáková A, Stefansson K, Steinhagen-Thiessen E, Stolk L, Streeten EA, Styrkarsdottir U, Swart KMA, Thompson P, Thomson CA, Thorleifsson G, Thorsteinsdottir U, Tikkanen E, Tranah GJ, Uitterlinden AG, van Duijn CM, van Schoor NM, Vandenput L, Vollenweider P, Völzke H, Wactawski-Wende J, Walker M, J Wareham N, Waterworth D, Weedon MN, Wichmann HE, Widen E, Williams FMK, Wilson JF, Wright NC, Yerges-Armstrong LM, Yu L, Zhang W, Zhao JH, Zhou Y, Nielson CM, Harris TB, Demissie S, Kiel DP, Ohlsson C. Disentangling the genetics of lean mass. Am J Clin Nutr. 2019 Feb 1;109(2):276-287. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/nqy272. PubMed
Dörr M, Hamburg NM, Müller C, Smith NL, Gustafsson S, Lehtimäki T, Teumer A, Zeller T, Li X, Lind L, Raitakari OT, Völker U, Blankenberg S, McKnight B, Morris AP, Kähönen M, Lemaitre RN, Wild PS, Nauck M, Völzke H, Münzel T, Mitchell GF, Psaty BM, Lindgren CM, Larson MG, Felix SB, Ingelsson E, Lyytikäinen LP, Herrington D, Benjamin EJ, Schnabel RB. Common genetic variation in relation to brachial vascular dimensions and flow-mediated vasodilation. Circ Genom Precis Med. 2019;12(2):e002409. doi: 10.1161/CIRCGEN.118.002409. PubMed
de Vries PS, Brown MR, Bentley AR, Sung YJ, Winkler TW, Ntalla I, Schwander K, Kraja AT, Guo X, Franceschini N, Cheng CY, Sim X, Vojinovic D, Huffman JE, Musani SK, Li C, Feitosa MF, Richard MA, Noordam R, Aschard H, Bartz TM, Bielak LF, Deng X, Dorajoo R, Lohman KK, Manning AK, Rankinen T, Smith AV, Tajuddin SM, Evangelou E, Graff M, Alver M, Boissel M, Chai JF, Chen X, Divers J, Gandin I, Gao C, Goel A, Hagemeijer Y, Harris SE, Hartwig FP, He M, Horimoto ARVR, Hsu FC, Jackson AU, Kasturiratne A, Komulainen P, Kühnel B, Laguzzi F, Lee JH, Luan J, Lyytikäinen LP, Matoba N, Nolte IM, Pietzner M, Riaz M, Said MA, Scott RA, Sofer T, Stancáková A, Takeuchi F, Tayo BO, van der Most PJ, Varga TV, Wang Y, Ware EB, Wen W, Yanek LR, Zhang W, Zhao JH, Afaq S, Amin N, Amini M, Arking DE, Aung T, Ballantyne C, Boerwinkle E, Broeckel U, Campbell A, Canouil M, Charumathi S, Chen YI, Connell JM, de Faire U, de Las Fuentes L, de Mutsert R, de Silva HJ, Ding J, Dominiczak AF, Duan Q, Eaton CB, Eppinga RN, Faul JD, Fisher V, Forrester T, Franco OH, Friedlander Y, Ghanbari M, Giulianini F, Grabe HJ, Grove ML, Gu CC, Harris TB, Heikkinen S, Heng CK, Hirata M, Hixson JE, Howard BV, Ikram MA; InterAct Consortium, Jacobs DR Jr, Johnson C, Jonas JB, Kammerer CM, Katsuya T, Khor CC, Kilpeläinen TO, Koh WP, Koistinen HA, Kolcic I, Kooperberg C, Krieger JE, Kritchevsky SB, Kubo M, Kuusisto J, Lakka TA, Langefeld CD, Langenberg C, Launer LJ, Lehne B, Lemaitre RN, Li Y, Liang J, Liu J, Liu K, Loh M, Louie T, Mägi R, Manichaikul AW, McKenzie CA, Meitinger T, Metspalu A, Milaneschi Y, Milani L, Mohlke KL, Mosley TH Jr, Mukamal KJ, Nalls MA, Nauck M, Nelson CP, Sotoodehnia N, O'Connell JR, Palmer ND, Pazoki R, Pedersen NL, Peters A, Peyser PA, Polasek O, Poulter N, Raffel LJ, Raitakari OT, Reiner AP, Rice TK, Rich SS, Robino A, Robinson JG, Rose LM, Rudan I, Schmidt CO, Schreiner PJ, Scott WR, Sever P, Shi Y, Sidney S, Sims M, Smith BH, Smith JA, Snieder H, Starr JM, Strauch K, Tan N, Taylor KD, Teo YY, Tham YC, Uitterlinden AG, van Heemst D, Vuckovic D, Waldenberger M, Wang L, Wang Y, Wang Z, Wei WB, Williams C, Wilson G Sr, Wojczynski MK, Yao J, Yu B, Yu C, Yuan JM, Zhao W, Zonderman AB, Becker DM, Boehnke M, Bowden DW, Chambers JC, Deary IJ, Esko T, Farrall M, Franks PW, Freedman BI, Froguel P, Gasparini P, Gieger C, Horta BL, Kamatani Y, Kato N, Kooner JS, Laakso M, Leander K, Lehtimäki T; Lifelines Cohort, Groningen, The Netherlands (Lifelines Cohort Study), Magnusson PKE, Penninx B, Pereira AC, Rauramaa R, Samani NJ, Scott J, Shu XO, van der Harst P, Wagenknecht LE, Wang YX, Wareham NJ, Watkins H, Weir DR, Wickremasinghe AR, Zheng W, Elliott P, North KE, Bouchard C, Evans MK, Gudnason V, Liu CT, Liu Y, Psaty BM, Ridker PM, van Dam RM, Kardia SLR, Zhu X, Rotimi CN, Mook-Kanamori DO, Fornage M, Kelly TN, Fox ER, Hayward C, van Duijn CM, Tai ES, Wong TY, Liu J, Rotter JI, Gauderman WJ, Province MA, Munroe PB, Rice K, Chasman DI, Cupples LA, Rao DC, Morrison AC. Multi-ancestry genome-wide association study of lipid levels incorporating gene-alcohol interactions. Am J Epidemiol. 2019 Jan 29. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwz005. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Psaty BM, Dekkers OM, Cooper RS. Precision medicine vs preventive medicine-reply. JAMA. 2019;321(4):406-407. doi: 10.1001/jama.2018.18664. 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