Biography
Dr. Ridker, a graduate of the Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health, directs the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, a translational vascular biology research unit at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital which focuses on the molecular and genetic epidemiology of cardiovascular diseases.
An Associate Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School, Dr. Ridker’s primary research brings together classical tools of large-scale, population based epidemiology with emerging genetic and molecular techniques designed to improve our ability to predict and prevent thrombotic occlusion. Particular areas of interest involve molecular and genetic determinants of hemostasis, thrombosis, and inflammation with a focus on "predictive medicine", early disease diagnosis, and the underlying causes and prevention of acute coronary syndromes. Dr. Ridker’s research efforts are supported by multiple RO 1 research grants from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) as well as an Established Investigator Award from the American Heart Association. Dr. Ridker is also the Principal Investigator of PREVENT, an NHLBI-funded multicenter clinical trial of thrombosis prevention among individuals with and without genetic predispositions to hypercoagulability. Dr. Ridker also directs an NHLBI-funded institutional National Research Service Award (training grant) in cardiovascular epidemiology.
Abstract
Molecular & Genetic Approaches to Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, Epidemiology, & Risk Assessment
Half of all cardiovascular events occur among individuals with normal lipid levels, yet cholesterol screening remains our primary method for targeting prevention and treatment of myocardial infarction, stroke, and diabetic vasculopathy. In an attempt to improve detection of vascular risk in healthy as well as pre-diabetic populations, Dr. Ridker’s group has established methods to utilize population-based epidemiology as a unique investigative tool to explore basic mechanisms of hemostasis and inflammation as they relate to atheroscelerosis, as well as to translate key issues in vascular biology into novel diagnostic tests for predicting cardiovascular disease. Nonetheless, the underlying genetic determinants of inflammation and thrombosis remain uncertain as do the gene-environment relationships which critically interact to determine subsequent vascular risk.
Thus, the overall scientific aims of Dr. Ridker’s studies are to
- Perform a targeted series of large scale, population-based, prospective, genetic analyses designed to carefully determine whether genes directly related to thrombosis, cholesterol metabolism, and inflammation are associated with increased risks of developing myocardial infarction and stroke;
- To determine whether any risk associated with these genes is modified by important environmental interactions; and
- To determine whether plasma based or genetic markers of inflammation can be used to determine the future risk of developing clinical diabetes and/or the onset of diabetic vascular complications.
This work will be completed within the newly established Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention.