About
Vasan S. Ramachandran, M.D., Principal Investigator and Director of the Framingham Heart Study (FHS), and Principal Investigator of the Risk Underlying Rural Areas Longitudinal Study (RURAL). Dr. Ramachandran is an Adjunct Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at BUSM/BUSPH, and Dean of the University of Texas School of Public Health San Antonio. He is a trained cardiologist with subspecialty training in echocardiography. He is a fellow of the AHA Councils on Epidemiology and Prevention and Functional Genomics and Translational Biology, and a fellow of the American College of Cardiology (ACC). Dr. Ramachandran has extensive experience in supervising trainees at many levels and has taught the foundational core course on Cardiovascular Epidemiology at BUSPH (EP751). He has several active R01 grants from the NHLBI/NIDDK/NIA, received two K24 Mid-Career Investigator mentoring grants from the NHLBI, and has mentored several K23 awardees. Overall, he has supervised over 75 trainees during the past 20 years (~40% women, 25% non-White); most are in key positions in academia. He received the Outstanding Mentor awards from the Department of Medicine, BUSM, and the AHA Council on Epidemiology and Prevention, the prestigious AHA Population Science Award in 2014 and the AHA Distinguished Scientist Award in 2021. Importantly, Dr. Ramachandran’s own peer-reviewed funding spans thematic areas of genetics and genomics, cardiac and vascular remodeling, novel biomarkers, systems biology including proteomics and metabolomics, microbiome, and stem cell biology. He has a 25-year history in research in cardiovascular epidemiology, including the two years he trained as a FHS fellow (1993-1995). He established the first School of Public Health in Kerala, India, between 1996-1998, serving as its inaugural director and the coordinator of its MPH program. He is the founding member and leader of the international EchoGen consortium, and chairs the Steering Committee of the Chronic Kidney Disease Biomarker Consortium funded by the NIDDK (U01DK085689). He is recognized internationally for translational research in cardiovascular epidemiology and lectures regularly at the AHA early career session on “how to develop a career in translational research and epidemiology/genetics.” He is a Trained Mentor and has been been a past member of the NIH Cardiovascular and Sleep (CASE) SRG, and an active reviewer of grants for national and international funding agencies. He served for many years on the NHLBI panel for reviewing K23-K24-K25 career development grants. He served as an Associate Editor for Circulation, and the founding Editor-in-Chief of Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics. He directs the Center for Integrative Transdisciplinary Epidemiology within BUSM, that hosts multiple epidemiological datasets, including from multiple cohort studies, national surveys (NHANES), administrative databases and electronic health records; this center will be a valuable data source for trainees. For the last 25 years, Dr. Ramachandran has focused his research on A) the genetic and non-genetic epidemiology of congestive heart failure, including identifying risk factors for the disease, characterizing the subgroups with diastolic heart failure, asymptomatic LV systolic and diastolic dysfunction, and evaluating the role of LV remodeling; B) population-based vascular testing and echocardiography, including identifying biological, environmental, and genetic determinants (correlates) of cardiac structure and function; normative standards; detailed assessment of biomarkers of the process of LV remodeling, including but not limited to role of natriuretic peptides, insulin resistance, cardiac extracellular matrix markers, oxidative stress, inflammation, growth factors; genetics of LV remodeling, LA and aortic structure and gene-environment interactions; brachial artery endothelial function, its correlates and tonometric assessment of large artery function; C) genetic and non-genetic epidemiology of high blood pressure, including characterizing the lifetime risk, rates of progression and risks associated with various degrees of elevation; large artery stiffness and function and role in systolic hypertension in the elderly; genetics of high blood pressure and large artery function; D) CVD risk estimation in the short, medium- and long-term, with novel biomarkers including genomic biomarkers; and E) rural health disparities via the RURAL cohort study.
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Publication
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November, 2023
Natural History of Asymptomatic Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction in the Community
Background— Information is limited regarding the rates of progression to congestive heart failure (CHF) and death in individuals with asymptomatic left ventricular systolic dysfunction (AL...
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January, 2023
Impact of Glucose Intolerance and Insulin Resistance on Cardiac Structure and Function: Sex-Related Differences in the Framingham Heart Study
Background— Although insulin resistance has been implicated in the pathogenesis of left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy, previous studies have yielded inconsistent results and are limited by ...
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November, 2021
Deep learning enables genetic analysis of the human thoracic aorta
Enlargement or aneurysm of the aorta predisposes to dissection, an important cause of sudden death. We trained a deep learning model to evaluate the dimensions of the ascending and descendin...
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December, 2019
Application of non-HDL cholesterol for population-based cardiovascular risk stratification: results from the Multinational Cardiovascular Risk Consort...
Background The relevance of blood lipid concentrations to long-term incidence of cardiovascular disease and the relevance of lipid-lowering therapy for cardiovascular disease outcomes is un...
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May, 2019
70-year legacy of the Framingham Heart Study
The Framingham Heart Study (FHS) was established in 1948 to improve understanding of the epidemiology of coronary heart disease (CHD) in the USA. In 1961, seminal work identified major risk ...
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March, 2018
Association of Cardiovascular Biomarkers With Incident Heart Failure With Preserved and Reduced Ejection Fraction
Importance Nearly half of all patients with heart failure have preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) as opposed to reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), yet associations of biomarkers with futur...
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January, 2018
Epidemiology of Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction and Heart Failure in the Framingham Study: An Echocardiographic Study Over 3 Decades
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to describe the temporal trends in prevalence of left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD) in individuals without and with heart failure (HF) in...
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April, 2016
Short‐Term Exposure to Air Pollution and Biomarkers of Oxidative Stress: The Framingham Heart Study
Background Short‐term exposure to elevated air pollution has been associated with higher risk of acute cardiovascular diseases, with systemic oxidative stress induced by air pollution hyp...
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January, 2016
Atrial Fibrillation Begets Heart Failure and Vice Versa: Temporal Associations and Differences in Preserved Versus Reduced Ejection Fraction
Background— Atrial fibrillation (AF) and heart failure (HF) frequently coexist and together confer an adverse prognosis. The association of AF with HF subtypes has not been well described...
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November, 2015
Relation of Central Arterial Stiffness to Incident Heart Failure in the Community
Background Arterial stiffness, pressure pulsatility, and wave reflection are associated with cardiovascular disease. Left ventricular function is coupled to proximal aortic properties, but ...
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