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):
Floyd JS, Bloch KM, Brody JA, Maroteau C, Siddiqui MK, Gregory R, Carr DF, Molokhia M, Liu X, Bis JC, Ahmed A, Liu X, Hallberg P, Yue QY, Magnusson PKE, Brisson D, Wiggins KL, Morrison AC, Khoury E, McKeigue P, Stricker BH, Lapeyre-Mestre M, Heckbert SR, Gallagher AM, Chinoy H, Gibbs RA, Bondon-Guitton E, Tracy R, Boerwinkle E, Gaudet D, Conforti A, van Staa T, Sitlani CM, Rice KM, Maitland-van der Zee AH, Wadelius M, Morris AP, Pirmohamed M, Palmer CAN, Psaty BM, Alfirevic A; PREDICTION-ADR Consortium and EUDRAGENE. Pharmacogenomics of statin-related myopathy: meta-analysis of rare variants from whole-exome sequencing. PLoS One. 2019 Jun 26;14(6):e0218115. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0218115. eCollection 2019. PubMed
Flannick J, Mercader JM, Fuchsberger C, Udler MS, Mahajan A, Wessel J, Teslovich TM, Caulkins L, Koesterer R, Barajas-Olmos F, Blackwell TW, Boerwinkle E, Brody JA, Centeno-Cruz F, Chen L, Chen S, Contreras-Cubas C, Córdova E, Correa A, Cortes M, DeFronzo RA, Dolan L, Drews KL, Elliott A, Floyd JS, Gabriel S, Garay-Sevilla ME, García-Ortiz H, Gross M, Han S, Heard-Costa NL, Jackson AU, Jørgensen ME, Kang HM, Kelsey M, Kim BJ, Koistinen HA, Kuusisto J, Leader JB, Linneberg A, Liu CT, Liu J, Lyssenko V, Manning AK, Marcketta A, Malacara-Hernandez JM, Martínez-Hernández A, Matsuo K, Mayer-Davis E, Mendoza-Caamal E, Mohlke KL, Morrison AC, Ndungu A, Ng MCY, O'Dushlaine C, Payne AJ, Pihoker C, Broad Genomics Platform, Post WS, Preuss M, Psaty BM, Vasan RS, Rayner NW, Reiner AP, Revilla-Monsalve C, Robertson NR, Santoro N, Schurmann C, So WY, Soberón X, Stringham HM, Strom TM, Tam CHT, Thameem F, Tomlinson B, Torres JM, Tracy RP, van Dam RM, Vujkovic M, Wang S, Welch RP, Witte DR, Wong TY, Atzmon G, Barzilai N, Blangero J, Bonnycastle LL, Bowden DW, Chambers JC, Chan E, Cheng CY, Cho YS, Collins FS, de Vries PS, Duggirala R, Glaser B, Gonzalez C, Gonzalez ME, Groop L, Kooner JS, Kwak SH, Laakso M, Lehman DM, Nilsson P, Spector TD, Tai ES, Tuomi T, Tuomilehto J, Wilson JG, Aguilar-Salinas CA, Bottinger E, Burke B, Carey DJ, Chan JCN, Dupuis J, Frossard P, Heckbert SR, Hwang MY, Kim YJ, Kirchner HL, Lee JY, Lee J, Loos RJF, Ma RCW, Morris AD, O'Donnell CJ, Palmer CNA, Pankow J, Park KS, Rasheed A, Saleheen D, Sim X, Small KS, Teo YY, Haiman C, Hanis CL, Henderson BE, Orozco L, Tusié-Luna T, Dewey FE, Baras A, Gieger C, Meitinger T, Strauch K, Lange L, Grarup N, Hansen T, Pedersen O, Zeitler P, Dabelea D, Abecasis G, Bell GI, Cox NJ, Seielstad M, Sladek R, Meigs JB, Rich SS, Rotter JI, DiscovEHR Collaboration, CHARGE, LuCamp, ProDiGY, GoT2D, ESP, SIGMA-T2D, T2D-GENES, AMP-T2D-GENES, Altshuler D, Burtt NP, Scott LJ, Morris AP, Florez JC, McCarthy MI, Boehnke M Exome sequencing of 20,791 cases of type 2 diabetes and 24,440 controls 2019 Jun;570(7759):71-76. doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1231-2. Epub 2019-05-22. PubMed
Lindström S, Brody JA, Turman C, Germain M, Bartz TM, Smith EN, Chen MH, Puurunen M, Chasman D, Hassler J, Pankratz N, Basu S, Guan W, Gyorgy B, Ibrahim M, Empana JP, Olaso R, Jackson R, Braekkan SK, McKnight B, Deleuze JF, O'Donnell CJ, Jouven X, Frazer KA, Psaty BM, Wiggins KL, Taylor K, Reiner AP, Heckbert SR, Kooperberg C, Ridker P, Hansen JB, Tang W, Johnson AD, Morange PE, Trégouët DA, Kraft P, Smith NL, Kabrhel C, INVENT Consortium A large-scale exome array analysis of venous thromboembolism 2019 Jun;43(4):449-457. doi: 10.1002/gepi.22187. Epub 2019-01-19. 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, 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, 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, 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 2019 Jun;188(6):1033-1054. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwz005. PubMed
Marklund M, Wu JHY, Imamura F, Del Gobbo LC, Fretts A, de Goede J, Shi P, Tintle N, Wennberg M, Aslibekyan S, Chen TA, de Oliveira Otto MC, Hirakawa Y, Eriksen HH, Kröger J, Laguzzi F, Lankinen M, Murphy RA, Prem K, Samieri C, Virtanen J, Wood AC, Wong K, Yang WS, Zhou X, Baylin A, Boer JMA, Brouwer IA, Campos H, Chaves PHM, Chien KL, de Faire U, Djoussé L, Eiriksdottir G, El-Abbadi N, Forouhi NG, Michael Gaziano J, Geleijnse JM, Gigante B, Giles G, Guallar E, Gudnason V, Harris T, Harris WS, Helmer C, Hellenius ML, Hodge A, Hu FB, Jacques PF, Jansson JH, Kalsbeek A, Khaw KT, Koh WP, Laakso M, Leander K, Lin HJ, Lind L, Luben R, Luo J, McKnight B, Mursu J, Ninomiya T, Overvad K, Psaty BM, Rimm E, Schulze MB, Siscovick D, Skjelbo Nielsen M, Smith AV, Steffen BT, Steffen L, Sun Q, Sundström J, Tsai MY, Tunstall-Pedoe H, Uusitupa MIJ, van Dam RM, Veenstra J, Monique Verschuren WM, Wareham N, Willett W, Woodward M, Yuan JM, Micha R, Lemaitre RN, Mozaffarian D, Risérus U, Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) Fatty Acids and Outcomes Research Consortium (FORCE) Biomarkers of Dietary Omega-6 Fatty Acids and Incident Cardiovascular Disease and Mortality: An Individual-Level Pooled Analysis of 30 Cohort Studies 2019 May 21;139(21):2422-2436. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.118.038908. PubMed
Meagan C. Brown, PhD, MPHAssistant Investigator |
Sascha Dublin, MD, PhDSenior Investigator |
Nicole M. Gatto, PhD, MPHPrincipal Collaborative Scientist |
Beverly B. Green, MD, MPHSenior Investigator |
Laura Harrington, PhD, MPHAssociate 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