Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health

Past Research Projects

PI: K.W. Davidson, T.P. Pickering
R24 HL76857; (2004-2009; $3,455,642)
NIH/NHLBI: Mind-Body-Behavioral Medicine Clinical Trials Infrastructure
This project involves the development of infrastructure that will allow interdisciplinary study of the effects of stress and psychological dimensions on hypertension and heart disease. The major goal is to address five barriers that have impeded the impact of mind-body (behavioral) medicine in the general medical community.

PI: K. Davidson
R01 HL80665; 2005-2010; $475,297
NIH/NHLBI: CAD Incidence: Depression and Inflammation Risk
This project will determine if depression and inflammatory status are independent or dependent markers of CHD incidence risk.

  • Project 1: Etiologies of Cardiac Depression
    Tests the applicability of psychological proximal causes of depression to dysphoric, post-ACS patients
  • Project 2: Phase I Depression RCT for post-ACS patients
    Explores patient acceptability, safety, and efficacy of depression intervention
  • Project 3: Medication Adherence as a Mediator of Depression-ACS Relation
    Tests potential behavioral and physiological mediators in depression - ACS relation

PI: D. Shimbo
K23 HL072866; 2003-2009; $774,225
NIH/NHLBI: Translational Studies of Hostility, Atherothrombosis & CAD
The goals of this research program are to examine the relationship between hostility and its management on levels of inflammatory markers and platelet reactivity.

PI: T. Pickering
2008; $95,993
Microlife, Inc.: New Ways of Measuring Blood Pressure in Clinical Practice
The purpose of this study is to compare the BP readings taken by 3 various devices against 24 hour ABPM readings and the conventional physicians’ readings using a mercury sphygmomanometer.

PI: T. Goyal-Spruill
2006-2009 $75,000
AHA: Telephone-Based Lifestyle Intervention to Reduce Blood Pressure in Pre-Hypertensive Patients
The goal is to test the effect of a 4-session telephone-based lifestyle intervention on blood pressure change in pre-hypertensive patients.

PI: D. Shimbo
2006-2009 $45,000
Victoria and Ester Aboodi Sponsorship: Electro-Mechanical Coupling In the Diseased Left Ventricle
The major goal of this study is to determine the relation between mechanical activation (using 3D echocardiography) and electrical activation (3D CARTO mapping) in patients with heart failure.

PI: D. Shimbo
2006-2009 $45,000
Victoria and Ester Aboodi Sponsorship: Echocardiographic Vv Optimization of Sequential Biventricular Pacing In Patients with Advanced Heart Failure
The major goal of this study is to determine the utility of 3D echocardiography in optimizing the VV delay in heart failure patients who have received a sequential biventricular pacer.

PI: W. Gerin
R01 HL67439; 2001-2006 $3,362,146
NIH/NHLBI (one-year NCE to 2007):

  • A Stepped Intervention for Meds Adherence and Blood Pressure Control
    The major goals of this project are to test the effects of two commercially available interventions (Self-Telemonitoring and Telephone-Based Nurse Case Management) on medication adherence in hypertensive patients, and on blood pressure control, using an RCT pre-post design.
  • Postdoctoral Minority Supplement (Lisa Lewis)
    2004-2006 $195,305
    The aim is to allow Dr. Lewis to develop an instrument to assess spirituality in hypertensive African American patients.
  • Graduate Minority Supplement (Devon Dyett)
    2003-2005 $76,956
    The aim is for Mr. Dyett to assess the rate at which patients enrolled in this trial adopt non-pharmacologic approaches to treatment such as dietary changes, the awareness of physicians of dietary lifestyle changes (specifically the DASH diet) and finally the rate at which patients were recommended non-pharmacologic approaches by their physicians.

PI: T. Pickering
R01 HL73495; 2002-2007; $1,940,301
NIH/NHLBI (one-year NCE to 2007): Conditioned Placebo Effects and Treatment of Hypertension
The goal of this project is to test the hypothesis that placebo pills given to lower blood pressure will have a greater effect if given after the active medication than before it.

PI: K. Davidson
2002-2007 $1,823,679
NLM 03-3504: Summer Institute on Randomized Clinical Trials Involving Behavioral Intervention
The objectives of this effort are to provide a thorough grounding in the conduct of randomized clinical trials to researchers and health professionals interested in developing competence in the planning, design, and execution of clinical trials involving behavioral interventions.

PI: L. Clemow
R44 HL67584; 2001-2005; $1,117,084
NIH/NHLBI: Randomized Controlled Trial of the LifeSkills Workshop on Hypertensive Employees
This goal of this study is to conduct a randomized controlled trial of the Williams LifeSkills workshop in a hospital setting. We hypothesize that employees who undertake the LifeSkills workshop will show improved blood pressure, psychosocial risk factors, and decreased costs associated with treatment.

PI: G. Ogedegbe

  • R01 HL69408; 2001-2005 $888,749
    NIH/NHLBI: Motivational Interviewing in Hypertensive African-Americans
    The goal of this project is to test the effectiveness of a motivational interview in improving medication adherence. We will conduct a randomized controlled trial in 190 poorly controlled hypertensive African Americans followed in a primary care practice.
  • Graduate Minority Supplement (Emeka Ogu) 2002-2005 $15,734
    The aim is to allow Mr. Ogu to investigate the various factors that may help African Americans who were diagnosed with high blood pressure to adhere to a regime of taking their antihypertensive medications.

PI: K. Davidson
K23 HL04458; 2001-2006; $643,680
NIH/NHLBI: Controlled Randomized Anger Reduction in Hypertensives
The major aim of this project is to test the feasibility of comparing an anger management group plus usual medical care to two control conditions-usual medical care only and another group therapy (time management) plus usual medical care.

Post-Baccalaureate Minority Supplement (Seun Akinola)
On N01 HC25197 (PI: K. Davidson)
2004-2005 $50,533
The goal is to allow Mr. Akinola to go through all phases of a research project, including: creating a protocol to designing forms, conducting assays, developing a database, entering data, data analysis, preparing and submitting a publishable manuscript.

Post-baccalaureate Minority Supplement (Johanna Pineiro)
On R01 HL078566 (PI: G. Ogedegbe)
2006-2007; $48,300
The aim is for Ms. Pineiro to examine the relationship of patient expectation of outcomes and blood pressure among hypertensive African American patients receiving care in community health centers.

PI: D. Shimbo
2004; $10,000
GCRC-Irving Center: Inflammatory Markers, Endothelial Function, and Anger
The major goal of this project is to determine the effects of an anger-recall task on inflammatory markers, and endothelial function. This project will serve as a pilot study to conduct a large mechanism and treatment study on the effects of anger on CAD event risk.

PI: K. Davidson
P01 HL088117; 2008-2014 (NCE); $12,479,004
NIH/NHLBI: Depression, Biobehavioral Mechanisms, & CHD/Mortality Outcomes
The goal of this study is to explain the increased prognostic risk in depressed cardiac patients for major adverse cardiac events &/or all-cause mortality by dissecting depression into key psychological & biological components & correlates.

PI: J.E. Schwartz, T.P. Pickering
P01 HL47540; 1993-2015 (NCE); $12,419,085
NIH/NHLBI: Psychosocial Factors and Cardiovascular Disease
This Program Project represents a continuation of our existing Program Project, which has been supported by NHLBI since 1985, and comprises a body of work that focuses on the role of psychosocial factors in the development of hypertension and cardiovascular disease. These projects focus on a set of inter-related themes concerning the causes and consequences of sustained blood pressure elevation.

  • Project 1: Masked Hypertension: A Prospective Study of the Development of Hypertension
    This study will continue our investigation of MHT through 5-year follow-up exams to assess whether MHT leads to development of essential HT, progression of CV target organ damage (TOD), and increased risk of CV disease (CVD).
  • Project 2: Psychophysiological Mechanisms in Masked Hypertension
    This study will examine physiological and psychological factors associated with delayed post-stress BP recovery, the process we hypothesize contribute to the high daytime BP that is characteristic of MHT.
  • Project 3: Improving the Detection of Hypertension: A Diagnostic Research Study
    The long-term goal of this study is to improve the detection of HT, including those with MHT, so that treatment decisions are better informed, progression of TOD is slowed, and cardiovascular risk reduced.

PI: I. Kronish
K23 HL098359; 2010-2016 (NCE); $135,947
NIH/NHLBI: Uncontrolled Hypertension: The Role of Clinical Inertia and Medication Adherence
This patient-oriented research award tests the effectiveness of a pilot intervention to improve clinician management of hypertension by electronically monitoring adherence to blood pressure medications and then providing clinicians with quantitative reports summarizing patient adherence.

PI: D. Shimbo
R01 HL117323; 2014-2016 (NCE); $303,886
NIH/NHLBI: Incorporation of a Hypertension Working Group into the Jackson Heart Study
The goals of this study are to examine biological pathways involved in hypertension and in ambulatory blood pressure monitoring data from the Jackson Heart Study.

PI: K. Davidson and M. Burg
R01 HL115941; 2012-2015 (NCE); $1,353,233
NIH/NHLBI: Ecological Link of Psychosocial Stress to Exercise: Personalized Pathways
The goal of this study is to test whether personalized models of stress and exercise better aid us in decreasing stress, and improving regular exercise behavior than traditional between-subject models.

PI: K. Davidson
K24 HL084034; 2006-2016; $910,075
NIH/NHLBI: Midcareer Mentoring in Behavioral Cardiology: Depression & Cardiovascular Disease
The goals of this study are to determine the point prevalence of underlying medical conditions known to cause depression and excess CHD recurrence/mortality in a large cohort of post-ACS patients and to determine if any of medical confounds explain some of the excess risk of depression for CHD recurrence/mortality controlling for standard covariates.

PI: K. Davidson
ECRIP; 2014- 2016; $796,608
NY State: Innovation Center for Improving 30-day Readmission and Patient Satisfaction: HPR iSCRIPT Center
The goal of this study is to identify novel hospital system, care processes, and patient factors that adversely influence 30-day readmissions. Additionally, this study will test strategies that alter these predictive factors, so as to simultaneously decrease 30-day readmission rates and increase patient satisfaction with care.

PI: K. Davidson
N01 HC25197; 2002-2009; $13,735,665
NIH/NHLBI: Consortium for the Translation of Psychosocial Depression Theories to Intervention and Dissemination
The major goals of this contract are to understand the etiology, course, and treatment of the dysphoria following an acute coronary syndrome.