SUMMARY
My research interests include epidemiology of ventricular dysfunction, detection, and treatment of congestive heart failure; cardiac transplantation.
Our previous investigations have included studies of the incidence and prevalence of congestive heart failure in Olmsted County, Minn., and studies of the prognosis of patients who have dilated cardiomyopathy. Current studies include analysis of a cross-sectional population-based study of the prevalence of symptomatic and asymptomatic ventricular dysfunction in 2042 Olmsted County residents. This NIH-funded study is establishing the prevalence of ventricular dysfunction in a community population of adults, and the relationship between ventricular dysfunction and risk factors for cardiovascular disease. It will focus on the sensitivity and specificity of plasma markers for ventricular dysfunction in the detection of asymptomatic disease. Further studies are also underway to identify DNA polymorphisms that may be associated with cardiac structure and natriuretic peptide expression. This cohort is now being followed longitudinally to measure changes in ventricular structure/function, cardiac peptide physiology, and incident cardiovascular events, with advancing age.
Through our Congestive Heart Failure Clinic, we have been involved in single center and multicenter clinical trials to assess heart failure pathophysiology and the efficacy of new therapies for congestive heart failure. Our Cardiac Transplant Clinic provides a setting to study clinical issues related to end-stage heart failure and cardiac transplantation.