Lifetime Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant) The candidate has completed residency training, a Chief Residency and a fellowship in cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), as well as a research fellowship at the Framingham Heart Study. During that time, he began formal didactic training in clinical research methods at the Harvard School of Public Health, and he has published several first-author manuscripts in major journals. He is now on staff in the Cardiology Division at MGH with a faculty appointment at Harvard Medical School. The candidate seeks to pursue a career as a clinician-scientist, treating cardiology patients as a consultant cardiologist for 25% of his time commitment, with an emphasis on preventive cardiology, while devoting 75% of his time to developing the skills needed to become an excellent epidemiologist and researcher in cardiovascular diseases. Within this larger framework, the proposed project will further the career goals of the candidate in both the short- and long-term. Using previously acquired and new data from the Framingham Heart Study, the candidate proposes to examine the lifetime risks of atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases and congestive heart failure. Lifetime risk data, which are more easily understood by the general public than other measures of risk, may be useful to clinicians and policy-makers in increasing public health efforts at prevention of cardiovascular diseases, which remain the major cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Further work is also needed to examine differences in lifetime risk associated with different risk factor strata (e.g. smokers versus non-smokers). It is anticipated that during the period of this award, the candidate will gain the skills required to address these and other questions using the most appropriate data management and statistical techniques. Through a combination of didactic courses at the Harvard School of Public Health, participation in ongoing data collection at the Framingham Study, and experience with statistical programming under the guidance of the experienced mentor and collaborators, the candidate plans to develop the skills necessary to complete the proposed project and to provide the basis for a successful career as a cardiovascular researcher.