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):
Davies G, Lam M, Harris SE, Trampush JW, Luciano M, Hill WD, Hagenaars SP, Ritchie SJ, Marioni RE, Fawns-Ritchie C, Liewald DCM, Okely JA, Ahola-Olli AV, Barnes CLK, Bertram L, Bis JC, Burdick KE, Christoforou A, DeRosse P, Djurovic S, Espeseth T, Giakoumaki S, Giddaluru S, Gustavson DE, Hayward C, Hofer E, Ikram MA, Karlsson R, Knowles E, Lahti J, Leber M, Li S, Mather KA, Melle I, Morris D, Oldmeadow C, Palviainen T, Payton A, Pazoki R, Petrovic K, Reynolds CA, Sargurupremraj M, Scholz M, Smith JA, Smith AV, Terzikhan N, Thalamuthu A, Trompet S, van der Lee SJ, Ware EB, Windham BG, Wright MJ, Yang J, Yu J, Ames D, Amin N, Amouyel P, Andreassen OA, Armstrong NJ, Assareh AA, Attia JR, Attix D, Avramopoulos D, Bennett DA, Böhmer AC, Boyle PA, Brodaty H, Campbell H, Cannon TD, Cirulli ET, Congdon E, Conley ED, Corley J, Cox SR, Dale AM, Dehghan A, Dick D, Dickinson D, Eriksson JG, Evangelou E, Faul JD, Ford I, Freimer NA, Gao H, Giegling I, Gillespie NA, Gordon SD, Gottesman RF, Griswold ME, Gudnason V, Harris TB, Hartmann AM, Hatzimanolis A, Heiss G, Holliday EG, Joshi PK, Kähönen M, Kardia SLR, Karlsson I, Kleineidam L, Knopman DS, Kochan NA, Konte B, Kwok JB, Le Hellard S, Lee T, Lehtimäki T, Li SC, Liu T, Koini M, London E, Longstreth WT Jr, Lopez OL, Loukola A, Luck T, Lundervold AJ, Lundquist A, Lyytikäinen LP, Martin NG, Montgomery GW, Murray AD, Need AC, Noordam R, Nyberg L, Ollier W, Papenberg G, Pattie A, Polasek O, Poldrack RA, Psaty BM, Reppermund S, Riedel-Heller SG, Rose RJ, Rotter JI, Roussos P, Rovio SP, Saba Y, Sabb FW, Sachdev PS, Satizabal CL, Schmid M, Scott RJ, Scult MA, Simino J, Slagboom PE, Smyrnis N, Soumaré A, Stefanis NC, Stott DJ, Straub RE, Sundet K, Taylor AM, Taylor KD, Tzoulaki I, Tzourio C, Uitterlinden A, Vitart V, Voineskos AN, Kaprio J, Wagner M, Wagner H, Weinhold L, Wen KH, Widen E, Yang Q, Zhao W, Adams HHH, Arking DE, Bilder RM, Bitsios P, Boerwinkle E, Chiba-Falek O, Corvin A, De Jager PL, Debette S, Donohoe G, Elliott P, Fitzpatrick AL, Gill M, Glahn DC, Hägg S, Hansell NK, Hariri AR, Ikram MK, Jukema JW, Vuoksimaa E, Keller MC, Kremen WS, Launer L, Lindenberger U, Palotie A, Pedersen NL, Pendleton N, Porteous DJ, Räikkönen K, Raitakari OT, Ramirez A, Reinvang I, Rudan I, Dan Rujescu, Schmidt R, Schmidt H, Schofield PW, Schofield PR, Starr JM, Steen VM, Trollor JN, Turner ST, Van Duijn CM, Villringer A, Weinberger DR, Weir DR, Wilson JF, Malhotra A, McIntosh AM, Gale CR, Seshadri S, Mosley TH Jr, Bressler J, Lencz T, Deary IJ. Study of 300,486 individuals identifies 148 independent genetic loci influencing general cognitive function. Nat Commun. 2018;9(1):2098. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04362-x. PubMed
Lin H, van Setten J, Smith AV, Bihlmeyer NA, Warren HR, Brody JA, Radmanesh F, Hall L, Grarup N, Müller-Nurasyid M, Boutin T, Verweij N, Lin HJ, Li-Gao R, van den Berg ME, Marten J, Weiss S, Prins BP, Haessler J, Lyytikäinen LP, Mei H, Harris TB, Launer LJ, Li M, Alonso A, Soliman EZ, Connell JM, Huang PL, Weng LC, Jameson HS, Hucker W, Hanley A, Tucker NR, Chen YI, Bis JC, Rice KM, Sitlani CM, Kors JA, Xie Z, Wen C, Magnani JW, Nelson CP, Kanters JK, Sinner MF, Strauch K, Peters A, Waldenberger M, Meitinger T, Bork-Jensen J, Pedersen O, Linneberg A, Rudan I, de Boer RA, van der Meer P, Yao J, Guo X, Taylor KD, Sotoodehnia N, Rotter JI, Mook-Kanamori DO, Trompet S, Rivadeneira F, Uitterlinden A, Eijgelsheim M, Padmanabhan S, Smith BH, Völzke H, Felix SB, Homuth G, Völker U, Mangino M, Spector TD, Bots ML, Perez M, Kähönen M, Raitakari OT, Gudnason V, Arking DE, Munroe PB, Psaty BM, van Duijn CM, Benjamin EJ, Rosand J, Samani NJ, Hansen T, Kääb S, Polasek O, van der Harst P, Heckbert SR, Jukema JW, Stricker BH, Hayward C, Dörr M, Jamshidi Y, Asselbergs FW, Kooperberg C, Lehtimäki T, Wilson JG, Ellinor PT, Lubitz SA, Isaacs A. Common and rare coding genetic variation underlying the electrocardiographic PR interval. Circ Genom Precis Med. 2018;11(5):e002037. doi: 10.1161/CIRCGEN.117.002037. PubMed
Macri V, Brody JA, Arking DE, Hucker WJ, Yin X, Lin H, Mills RW, Sinner MF, Lubitz SA, Liu CT, Morrison AC, Alonso A, Li N, Fedorov VV, Janssen PM, Bis JC, Heckbert SR, Dolmatova EV, Lumley T, Sitlani CM, Cupples LA, Pulit SL, Newton-Cheh C, Barnard J, Smith JD, Van Wagoner DR, Chung MK, Vlahakes GJ, O'Donnell CJ, Rotter JI, Margulies KB, Morley MP, Cappola TP, Benjamin EJ, Muzny D, Gibbs RA, Jackson RD, Magnani JW, Herndon CN, Rich SS, Psaty BM, Milan DJ, Boerwinkle E, Mohler PJ, Sotoodehnia N, Ellinor PT. Common coding variants in SCN10A are associated with the Nav1.8 late current and cardiac conduction. Circ Genom Precis Med. 2018;11(5):e001663. doi: 10.1161/CIRCGEN.116.001663. PubMed
Wei WQ, Li X, Feng Q, Kubo M, Kullo IJ, Peissig PL, Karlson EW, Jarvik GP, Lee MTM, Shang N, Larson EA, Edwards T, Shaffer C, Mosley JD, Maeda S, Horikoshi M, Ritchie M, Williams MS, Larson EB, Crosslin DR, Bland ST, Pacheco JA, Rasmussen-Torvik LJ, Cronkite D, Hripcsak G, Cox NJ, Wilke RA, Stein CM, Rotter JI, Momozawa Y, Roden DM, Krauss RM, Denny JC. LPA variants are associated with residual cardiovascular risk in patients receiving statins. Circulation. 2018 Oct 23;138(17):1839-1849. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.117.031356. PubMed
Emdin CA, Khera AV, Chaffin M, Klarin D, Natarajan P, Aragam K, Haas M, Bick A, Zekavat SM, Nomura A, Ardissino D, Wilson JG, Schunkert H, McPherson R, Watkins H, Elosua R, Bown MJ, Samani NJ, Baber U, Erdmann J, Gupta N, Danesh J, Chasman D, Ridker P, Denny J, Bastarache L, Lichtman JH, D'Onofrio G, Mattera J, Spertus JA, Sheu WH, Taylor KD, Psaty BM, Rich SS, Post W, Rotter JI, Chen YI, Krumholz H, Saleheen D, Gabriel S, Kathiresan S. Analysis of predicted loss-of-function variants in UK Biobank identifies variants protective for disease. Nat Commun. 2018;9(1):1613. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03911-8. 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