cardiology

The Burroughs Wellcome Fund has recognized two researchers at the School of Medicine for their studies in pulmonary medicine and cardiology. The two — among 14 scientists selected nationally to receive the BWF 2015 Career Award for Medical Scientists — are Jennifer Alexander-Brett, MD, PhD, and Kory J. Lavine, MD, PhD.

Building on a growing body of work that suggests dietary nitrate improves muscle performance in many elite athletes, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that drinking concentrated beet juice — high in nitrates — increases muscle power in patients with heart failure.

New research suggests that widely used statin therapy provides the most benefit to patients with the highest genetic risk of heart attack. Using a relatively straightforward genetic analysis, the researchers, including Nathan O. Stitziel, MD, PhD, assessed heart attack risk independently of the traditional risk factors.

Julio E. Pérez, MD, professor of medicine, has received multiple honors this year for excellence in teaching. The American College of Cardiology, the American Society of Echocardiography and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis each have recognized Pérez as a gifted educator and mentor in the field of cardiology.

Samuel A. Wickline, MD, has been named the inaugural James R. Hornsby Family Professor of Biomedical Sciences at Washington University School of Medicine.​

Victor Davila-Roman, MD, professor of medicine; and Yeshey Penjose, MD, a cardiologist from the National Referral Hospital in Thimpu, Bhutan, study a sonogram of a heart at the Center for Advanced Medicine. Penjose was training in echocardiography at the School of Medicine for two months as part of the Global Health Scholars Program.

Alan C. Braverman, a Washington University cardiologist at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, has been named Alumni Endowed Professor in Cardiovascular Diseases.

A Washington University scientist has been working with the federal government to determine what makes heart disease disabling. To determine cardiac disability, the committee recommended more functional testing and also discussed the need to evaluate not only a patient’s heart but the patient’s mood as well because depression can make heart disease worse. 

A blood vessel that has become narrowed by build-up from cholesterol and other substancesA pill containing plant substances called sterols can help lower cholesterol, according to researchers at the School of Medicine. The researchers studied patients who already were eating a heart-healthy diet and taking statin drugs to control cholesterol. The addition of plant sterols helped further lower total cholesterol and contributed to a nearly 10 percent reduction in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, the so-called “bad” cholesterol.