Coronary heart disease and stroke rank first and third among causes of death for Americans. The Division has an important emphasis on investigating the role of lifestyle factors, pharmaceuticals, biomarkers, and genetics in primary and secondary cardiovascular prevention. Dr. Ken Mukamal has studied the effects of behavioral factors – and particularly alcohol consumption – on the incidence and prognosis of myocardial infarction and stroke in a number of national cohort studies, including the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, the Nurses' Health Studies, the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS), the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, the Post CABG Trial, and the Determinants of Myocardial Infarction Onset Study. He currently serves on the Steering Committee and chairs the Diabetes Working Group for CHS, an ongoing multicenter NHLBI-funded cohort study of older adults. His funding portfolio has included NIH grants related to studies of nutritional factors and their physiological correlates in relation to cardiometabolic disease from NIA, NHLBI, and NIAAA.
Dr. Stephen Juraschek has expertise in both epidemiology and clinical trials. He is currently investigating the roles of sodium content and a DASH diet in vulnerable populations in two separate trials, and he has examined the effects of blood pressure treatment and diet in dozens of completed clinical trials. He is also the principal investigator on a NIH-funded study of the effect of the DASH diet on high sensitivity troponin and NT-proB-type natriuretic peptide. Lastly, he has NHLBI funding to study the determinants and consequences of orthostatic hypotension, particularly in older populations.
The primary goal of Dr. Mingyu Zhang's research program is to understand how environmental exposures shape disease risks and impact cardiovascular health across the life course. He systematically investigates the effects of environmental pollutants, including air pollutants, toxic heavy metals, and PFAS, on the risk of cardiovascular complications during pregnancy (e.g., preeclampsia, hypertensive disorders) and on pediatric cardiovascular health. He has led a number of studies in cohorts including the Boston Birth Cohort, Project Viva, and the NIH Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Consortium. Dr. Zhang is a co-investigator of the ongoing ECHO Boston cohort, which aims to examine how food insecurity, diet quality, and environmental pollutants contribute to inequities in pregnancy conditions that lead to later obesity and cardiovascular disease risk. In addition, Dr. Zhang has investigated the effects of dietary and lifestyle intervention strategies to reduce blood pressure and improve cardiovascular health in randomized controlled trials such as OmniHeart and SPIRIT.