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):
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. Erratum: Genetic loci associated with heart rate variability and their effects on cardiac disease risk. Nat Commun. 2017 Aug 2;8:16140. doi: 10.1038/ncomms16140. PubMed
Mousas A, Ntritsos G, Chen MH, Song C, Huffman JE, Tzoulaki I, Elliott P, Psaty BM, Auer PL, Johnson AD, Evangelou E, Lettre G, Reiner AP. Rare coding variants pinpoint genes that control human hematological traits. PLoS Genet. 2017 7;13(8):e1006925. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1006925. eCollection 2017 Aug. PubMed
Kent ST, Rosenson RS, Avery CL, Chen YI, Correa A, Cummings SR, Cupples LA, Cushman M, Evans DS, Gudnason V, Harris TB, Howard G, Irvin MR, Judd SE, Jukema JW, Lange L, Levitan EB, Li X, Liu Y, Post WS, Postmus I, Psaty BM, Rotter JI, Safford MM, Sitlani CM, Smith AV, Stewart JD, Trompet S, Sun F, Vasan RS, Woolley JM, Whitsel EA, Wiggins KL, Wilson JG, Muntner P. PCSK9 loss-of-function variants, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and risk of coronary heart disease and stroke: data from 9 studies of blacks and whites. Circ Cardiovasc Genet. 2017;10(4):e001632. doi: 10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.116.001632. PubMed
Christophersen IE, Magnani JW, Yin X, Barnard J, Weng LC, Arking DE, Niemeijer MN, Lubitz SA, Avery CL, Duan Q, Felix SB, Bis JC, Kerr KF, Isaacs A, Müller-Nurasyid M, Müller C, North KE, Reiner AP, Tinker LF, Kors JA, Teumer A, Petersmann A, Sinner MF, Buzkova P, Smith JD, Van Wagoner DR, Völker U, Waldenberger M, Peters A, Meitinger T, Limacher MC, Wilhelmsen KC, Psaty BM, Hofman A, Uitterlinden A, Krijthe BP, Zhang ZM, Schnabel RB, Kääb S, van Duijn C, Rotter JI, Sotoodehnia N, Dörr M, Li Y, Chung MK, Soliman EZ, Alonso A, Whitsel EA, Stricker BH, Benjamin EJ, Heckbert SR, Ellinor PT. Fifteen genetic loci associated with the electrocardiographic P wave. Circ Cardiovasc Genet. 2017;10(4). pii: e001667. doi: 10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.116.001667. PubMed
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
![]() Sascha Dublin, MD, PhDSenior Investigator |
![]() Beverly B. Green, MD, MPHSenior Investigator |
![]() Laura Harrington, PhD, MPHAssociate 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