Faculty

Research Interests

My research interests within cardiovascular epidemiologic research are wide and include investigations of inherited and acquired risk factors for arterial and venous thrombosis, diabetes, and heart failure. A major focus of my research in the past 15 years has been on genetic association studies, first conducted in the local setting and now being orchestrated internationally. Early work was conducted at Group Health Research Institute and involved a series of case-controls studies conducted with colleagues at the University of Washington. These studies addressed primarily pharmaco and pharmaco-genetic epidemiologic questions related to myocardial infarctions, stroke, and venous thrombosis. More recently, I have been involved in 2 large international genetics consortia, the Cohorts of Heart and Aging Genetic Epidemiology (CHARGE) Consortium and the International Network of Venous Thrombosis (INVENT) Consortium. In CHARGE, I co-convene 2 working groups, the CHARGE Hemostasis Working Group and the CHARGE Heart Failure Working Group. I am also a co-convener of the International Network on Venous Thrombosis (INVENT) consortium. For these consortia, I provide leadership in the conduct of intermediate and clinical phenotype association studies using genome-wide and exome-wide markers and exome sequencing. I am also the director of the Seattle Epidemiologic Research and Information Center (ERIC), a program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Cooperative Studies Program (CSP). The VA CSP is intimately involved in the VA’s Million Veteran Program (MVP), which is collecting DNA, lifestyle questionnaires from over a 1,000,000 Veterans who use the Veterans Health Administration for their care.

Education

PhD Epidemiology, University of Washington, 1997

MPH Epidemiology/Biostatistics, University of California (Berkeley), 1993

In the News

SPH researchers take part in largest-ever genetic study of stroke
SPH News, 04/02/2018

Various Oral Estrogen Drugs May Differ in Cardiovascular Risk
HCP Live, 10/04/2013

Pfizer's Premarin for Menopause Linked to Blood Clot Risk
Bloomberg Businessweek, 09/30/2013

Less Blood Clot Risk Linked to Estradiol than Premarin Pills
JAMA Internal Medicine, 09/30/2013