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):
Wu C, Shlipak MG, Stawski RS, Peralta CA, Psaty BM, Harris TB, Satterfield S, Shiroma EJ, Newman AB, Odden MC. Visit-to-visit blood pressure variability and mortality and cardiovascular outcomes among older adults: the health, aging, and body composition study. Am J Hypertens. 2016 Sep 6. pii: hpw106. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Wu JH, Lemaitre RN, King IB, Song X, Psaty BM, Siscovick DS, Mozaffarian D. Circulating omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids and total and cause-specific mortality: the Cardiovascular Health Study. Circulation. 2014 Oct 7;130(15):1245-53. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.114.011590. Epub 2014 Aug 14. PubMed
Wu JH, Lemaitre RN, King IB, Song X, Psaty BM, Siscovick DS, Mozaffarian D. Response to letters regarding article, "circulating omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids and total and cause-specific mortality: the Cardiovascular Health Study". Circulation. 2015;132(3):e25-6. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.115.014853. PubMed
Wu JH, Lemaitre RN, Manichaikul A, Guan W, Tanaka T, Foy M, Kabagambe EK, Djousse L, Siscovick D, Fretts AM, Johnson C, King IB, Psaty BM, McKnight B, Rich SS, Chen YD, Nettleton JA, Tang W, Bandinelli S, Jacobs DR Jr, Browning BL, Laurie CC, Gu X, Tsai MY, Steffen LM, Ferrucci L, Fornage M, Mozaffarian D. Genome-wide association study identifies novel loci associated with concentrations of four plasma phospholipid fatty acids in the de novo lipogenesis pathway: results from the CHARGE consortium. Circ Cardiovasc Genet. 2013 Apr;6(2):171-83. doi: 10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.112.964619. Epub 2013 Jan 29. PubMed
Wu JW, Boudreau DM, Park Y, Simonds NI, Freedman AN. Commonly used diabetes and cardiovascular medications and cancer recurrence and cancer-specific mortality: a review of the literature. Expert Opin Drug Saf. 2014;13(8):1071-99. doi: 10.1517/14740338.2014.926887. Epub 2014 Jul 5. 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