Our team has led some of the most important discoveries that have described the high risk for cardiovascular disease in persons with kidney disease. We are also interested in understanding cardiovascular risk in persons after kidney transplantation.

CVD Is the primary killer of kidney disease patients. Our group led several of the critical studies that demonstrated kidney disease to be a critical determinant and risk factor for CVD. We found not only were kidney disease patients at much higher risk of heart disease, stroke, and fatal cardiac events, but we also found that they are under-treated with life-extending treatments. Our work has raised awareness and led kidney disease to be considered a major risk factor for CVD, along with blood pressure, diabetes, increased cholesterol, and smoking.

Our current work is identifying pathways that lead from kidney disease to increased cardiovascular risk; examples include higher levels of inflammation, stiffer arteries, disordered metabolism of calcium and phosphate, and heart re-modeling and enlargement. We are also identifying kidney disease patients at highest risk for fatal arrhythmias in order to design targeted life-extending interventions.