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):
Christophersen IE, Rienstra M, Roselli C, Yin X, Geelhoed B, Barnard J, Lin H, Arking DE, Smith AV, Albert CM, Chaffin M, Tucker NR, Li M, Klarin D, Bihlmeyer NA, Low SK, Weeke PE, Müller-Nurasyid M, Smith JG, Brody JA, Niemeijer MN, Dörr M, Trompet S, Huffman J, Gustafsson S, Schurmann C, Kleber ME, Lyytikäinen LP, Seppälä I, Malik R, R V R Horimoto A, Perez M, Sinisalo J, Aeschbacher S, Thériault S, Yao J, Radmanesh F, Weiss S, Teumer A, Choi SH, Weng LC, Clauss S, Deo R, Rader DJ, Shah SH, Sun A, Hopewell JC, Debette S, Chauhan G, Yang Q, Worrall BB, Paré G, Kamatani Y, Hagemeijer YP, Verweij N, Siland JE, Kubo M, Smith JD, Van Wagoner DR, Bis JC, Perz S, Psaty BM, Ridker PM, Magnani JW, Harris TB, Launer LJ, Shoemaker MB, Padmanabhan S, Haessler J, Bartz TM, Waldenberger M, Lichtner P, Arendt M, Krieger JE, Kähönen M, Risch L, Mansur AJ, Peters A, Smith BH, Lind L, Scott SA, Lu Y, Bottinger EB, Hernesniemi J, Lindgren CM, Wong JA, Huang J, Eskola M, Morris AP, Ford I, Reiner AP, Delgado G, Chen LY, Chen YI, Sandhu RK, Li M, Boerwinkle E, Eisele L, Lannfelt L, Rost N, Anderson CD, Taylor KD, Campbell A, Magnusson PK, Porteous D, Hocking LJ, Vlachopoulou E, Pedersen NL, Nikus K, Orho-Melander M, Hamsten A, Heeringa J, Denny JC, Kriebel J, Darbar D, Newton-Cheh C, Shaffer C, Macfarlane PW, Heilmann-Heimbach S, Almgren P, Huang PL, Sotoodehnia N, Soliman EZ, Uitterlinden AG, Hofman A, Franco OH, Völker U, Jöckel KH, Sinner MF, Lin HJ, Guo X; METASTROKE Consortium of the ISGC, Neurology Working Group of the CHARGE Consortium, Dichgans M, Ingelsson E, Kooperberg C, Melander O, J F Loos R, Laurikka J, Conen D, Rosand J, van der Harst P, Lokki ML, Kathiresan S, Pereira A, Jukema JW, Hayward C, Rotter JI, März W, Lehtimäki T, Stricker BH, Chung MK, Felix SB, Gudnason V, Alonso A, Roden DM, Kääb S, Chasman DI, Heckbert SR, Benjamin EJ, Tanaka T, Lunetta KL, Lubitz SA, Ellinor PT, AFGen Consortium. Erratum: large-scale analyses of common and rare variants identify 12 new loci associated with atrial fibrillation. Nat Genet. 2017;49(8):1286. doi: 10.1038/ng0817-1286c. PubMed
Zillikens MC, Demissie S, Hsu YH, Yerges-Armstrong LM, Chou WC, Stolk L, Livshits G, Broer L, Johnson T, Koller DL, Kutalik Z, Luan J, Malkin I, Ried JS, Smith AV, Thorleifsson G, Vandenput L, Hua Zhao J, Zhang W, Aghdassi A, Åkesson K, Amin N, Baier LJ, Barroso I, Bennett DA, Bertram L, Biffar R, Bochud M, Boehnke M, Borecki IB, Buchman AS, Byberg L, Campbell H, Campos Obanda N, Cauley JA, Cawthon PM, Cederberg H, Chen Z, Cho NH, Jin Choi H, Claussnitzer M, Collins F, Cummings SR, De Jager PL, Demuth I, Dhonukshe-Rutten RAM, Diatchenko L, Eiriksdottir G, Enneman AW, Erdos M, Eriksson JG, Eriksson J, Estrada K, Evans DS, Feitosa MF, Fu M, Garcia M, Gieger C, Girke T, Glazer NL, Grallert H, Grewal J, Han BG, Hanson RL, Hayward C, Hofman A, Hoffman EP, Homuth G, Hsueh WC, Hubal MJ, Hubbard A, Huffman KM, Husted LB, Illig T, Ingelsson E, Ittermann T, Jansson JO, Jordan JM, Jula A, Karlsson M, Khaw KT, Kilpeläinen TO, Klopp N, Kloth JSL, Koistinen HA, Kraus WE, Kritchevsky S, Kuulasmaa T, Kuusisto J, Laakso M, Lahti J, Lang T, Langdahl BL, Launer LJ, Lee JY, Lerch MM, Lewis JR, Lind L, Lindgren C, Liu Y, Liu T, Liu Y, Ljunggren Ö, Lorentzon M, Luben RN, Maixner W, McGuigan FE, Medina-Gomez C, Meitinger T, Melhus H, Mellström D, Melov S, Michaëlsson K, Mitchell BD, Morris AP, Mosekilde L, Newman A, Nielson CM, O'Connell JR, Oostra BA, Orwoll ES, Palotie A, Parker SCJ, Peacock M, Perola M, Peters A, Polasek O, Prince RL, Räikkönen K, Ralston SH, Ripatti S, Robbins JA, Rotter JI, Rudan I, Salomaa V, Satterfield S, Schadt EE, Schipf S, Scott L, Sehmi J, Shen J, Soo Shin C, Sigurdsson G, Smith S, Soranzo N, Stancáková A, Steinhagen-Thiessen E, Streeten EA, Styrkarsdottir U, Swart KMA, Tan ST, Tarnopolsky MA, Thompson P, Thomson CA, Thorsteinsdottir U, Tikkanen E, Tranah GJ, Tuomilehto J, van Schoor NM, Verma A, Vollenweider P, Völzke H, Wactawski-Wende J, Walker M, Weedon MN, Welch R, Wichmann HE, Widen E, Williams FMK, Wilson JF, Wright NC, Xie W, Yu L, Zhou Y, Chambers JC, Döring A, van Duijn CM, Econs MJ, Gudnason V, Kooner JS, Psaty BM, Spector TD, Stefansson K, Rivadeneira F, Uitterlinden AG, Wareham NJ, Ossowski V, Waterworth D, Loos RJF, Karasik D, Harris TB, Ohlsson C, Kiel DP Large meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies identifies five loci for lean body mass 2017 Jul 19;8(1):80. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-00031-7. Epub 2017-07-19. PubMed
US Preventive Services Task Force, Grossman DC, Bibbins-Domingo K, Curry SJ, Barry MJ, Davidson KW, Doubeni CA, Epling JW, Kemper AR, Krist AH, Kurth AE, Landefeld CS, Mangione CM, Phipps MG, Silverstein M, Simon MA, Tseng CW Behavioral Counseling to Promote a Healthful Diet and Physical Activity for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in Adults Without Cardiovascular Risk Factors: US Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement 2017 Jul 11;318(2):167-174. doi: 10.1001/jama.2017.7171. PubMed
van den Berg ME, Warren HR, Cabrera CP, Verweij N, Mifsud B, Haessler J, Bihlmeyer NA, Fu YP, Weiss S, Lin HJ, Grarup N, Li-Gao R, Pistis G, Shah N, Brody JA, Müller-Nurasyid M, Lin H, Mei H, Smith AV, Lyytikäinen LP, Hall LM, van Setten J, Trompet S, Prins BP, Isaacs A, Radmanesh F, Marten J, Entwistle A, Kors JA, Silva CT, Alonso A, Bis JC, de Boer R, de Haan HG, de Mutsert R, Dedoussis G, Dominiczak AF, Doney ASF, Ellinor PT, Eppinga RN, Felix SB, Guo X, Hagemeijer Y, Hansen T, Harris TB, Heckbert SR, Huang PL, Hwang SJ, Kähönen M, Kanters JK, Kolcic I, Launer LJ, Li M, Yao J, Linneberg A, Liu S, Macfarlane PW, Mangino M, Morris AD, Mulas A, Murray AD, Nelson CP, Orrú M, Padmanabhan S, Peters A, Porteous DJ, Poulter N, Psaty BM, Qi L, Raitakari OT, Rivadeneira F, Roselli C, Rudan I, Sattar N, Sever P, Sinner MF, Soliman EZ, Spector TD, Stanton AV, Stirrups KE, Taylor KD, Tobin MD, Uitterlinden A, Vaartjes I, Hoes AW, van der Meer P, Völker U, Waldenberger M, Xie Z, Zoledziewska M, Tinker A, Polasek O, Rosand J, Jamshidi Y, van Duijn CM, Zeggini E, Jukema JW, Asselbergs FW, Samani NJ, Lehtimäki T, Gudnason V, Wilson J, Lubitz SA, Kääb S, Sotoodehnia N, Caulfield MJ, Palmer CNA, Sanna S, Mook-Kanamori DO, Deloukas P, Pedersen O, Rotter JI, Dörr M, O'Donnell CJ, Hayward C, Arking DE, Kooperberg C, van der Harst P, Eijgelsheim M, Stricker BH, Munroe PB Discovery of novel heart rate-associated loci using the Exome Chip 2017 Jun 15;26(12):2346-2363. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddx113. PubMed
Nolte IM, Munoz ML, Tragante V, Amare AT, Jansen R, Vaez A, von der Heyde B, Avery CL, Bis JC, Dierckx B, van Dongen J, Gogarten SM, Goyette P, Hernesniemi J, Huikari V, Hwang SJ, Jaju D, Kerr KF, Kluttig A, Krijthe BP, Kumar J, van der Laan SW, Lyytikäinen LP, Maihofer AX, Minassian A, van der Most PJ, Müller-Nurasyid M, Nivard M, Salvi E, Stewart JD, Thayer JF, Verweij N, Wong A, Zabaneh D, Zafarmand MH, Abdellaoui A, Albarwani S, Albert C, Alonso A, Ashar F, Auvinen J, Axelsson T, Baker DG, de Bakker PIW, Barcella M, Bayoumi R, Bieringa RJ, Boomsma D, Boucher G, Britton AR, Christophersen I, Dietrich A, Ehret GB, Ellinor PT, Eskola M, Felix JF, Floras JS, Franco OH, Friberg P, Gademan MGJ, Geyer MA, Giedraitis V, Hartman CA, Hemerich D, Hofman A, Hottenga JJ, Huikuri H, Hutri-Kähönen N, Jouven X, Junttila J, Juonala M, Kiviniemi AM, Kors JA, Kumari M, Kuznetsova T, Laurie CC, Lefrandt JD, Li Y, Li Y, Liao D, Limacher MC, Lin HJ, Lindgren CM, Lubitz SA, Mahajan A, McKnight B, Zu Schwabedissen HM, Milaneschi Y, Mononen N, Morris AP, Nalls MA, Navis G, Neijts M, Nikus K, North KE, O'Connor DT, Ormel J, Perz S, Peters A, Psaty BM, Raitakari OT, Risbrough VB, Sinner MF, Siscovick D, Smit JH, Smith NL, Soliman EZ, Sotoodehnia N, Staessen JA, Stein PK, Stilp AM, Stolarz-Skrzypek K, Strauch K, Sundström J, Swenne CA, Syvänen AC, Tardif JC, Taylor KD, Teumer A, Thornton TA, Tinker LE, Uitterlinden AG, van Setten J, Voss A, Waldenberger M, Wilhelmsen KC, Willemsen G, Wong Q, Zhang ZM, Zonderman AB, Cusi D, Evans MK, Greiser HK, van der Harst P, Hassan M, Ingelsson E, Järvelin MR, Kääb S, Kähönen M, Kivimaki M, Kooperberg C, Kuh D, Lehtimäki T, Lind L, Nievergelt CM, O'Donnell CJ, Oldehinkel AJ, Penninx B, Reiner AP, Riese H, van Roon AM, Rioux JD, Rotter JI, Sofer T, Stricker BH, Tiemeier H, Vrijkotte TGM, Asselbergs FW, Brundel BJJM, Heckbert SR, Whitsel EA, den Hoed M, Snieder H, de Geus EJC Genetic loci associated with heart rate variability and their effects on cardiac disease risk 2017 Jun 14;8:15805. doi: 10.1038/ncomms15805. Epub 2017-06-14. 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