Faculty

Nicholas Smith

Professor, Epidemiology

206-221-1279

Education

PhD Epidemiology, University of Washington, 1997
MPH Epidemiology/Biostatistics, University of California (Berkeley), 1993
BA Social Sciences, University of California (Irvine), 1987

Contact

206-221-1279

Box 351619
Department of Epidemiology
Hans Rosling Center for Population Health, 886
Seattle, WA 98195
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Bio

Dr. Smith is Professor of Epidemiology and Director of the VA Seattle Epidemiologic Research and Information Center (ERIC) at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System

Research Areas

Research Interests

My research interests within cardiovascular epidemiologic research are wide and include investigations of inherited and acquired risk factors for arterial and venous thrombosis, diabetes, and heart failure. A major focus of my research in the past 15 years has been on genetic association studies, first conducted in the local setting and now being orchestrated internationally. Early work was conducted at Group Health Research Institute and involved a series of case-controls studies conducted with colleagues at the University of Washington. These studies addressed primarily pharmaco and pharmaco-genetic epidemiologic questions related to myocardial infarctions, stroke, and venous thrombosis. More recently, I have been involved in 2 large international genetics consortia, the Cohorts of Heart and Aging Genetic Epidemiology (CHARGE) Consortium and the International Network of Venous Thrombosis (INVENT) Consortium. In CHARGE, I co-convene 2 working groups, the CHARGE Hemostasis Working Group and the CHARGE Heart Failure Working Group. I am also a co-convener of the International Network on Venous Thrombosis (INVENT) consortium. For these consortia, I provide leadership in the conduct of intermediate and clinical phenotype association studies using genome-wide and exome-wide markers and exome sequencing. I am also the director of the Seattle Epidemiologic Research and Information Center (ERIC), a program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Cooperative Studies Program (CSP). The VA CSP is intimately involved in the VA’s Million Veteran Program (MVP), which is collecting DNA, lifestyle questionnaires from over a 1,000,000 Veterans who use the Veterans Health Administration for their care.

Recent Publications (PubMed)

Risk Factors for Venous Thrombosis after Discharge from Medical Hospitalizations: The Medical Inpatient Thrombosis and Hemostasis (MITH) Study.
(2025 Apr 14)
J Thromb Haemost
Thomas RM, Sparks AD, Wilkinson K, Gergi M, Repp AB, Roetker NS, Smith NL, Muthukrishnan P, Martin K, Zakai NA
Plant-based diets and cardiovascular events: a proteomics approach to examine the underlying pathways.
(2025 Apr 12)
J Nutr
Kim H, Chen J, Prescott B, Walker ME, Grams ME, Yu B, Vasan RS, Floyd J, Sotoodehnia N, Smith NL, Arking DE, Coresh J, Rebholz CM
Whole genome sequencing analysis of body mass index identifies novel African ancestry-specific risk allele.
(2025 Apr 11)
Nat Commun 16(1): 3470
Zhang X, Brody JA, Graff M, Highland HM, Chami N, Xu H, Wang Z, Ferrier KR, Chittoor G, Josyula NS, Meyer M, Gupta S, Li X, Li Z, Allison MA, Becker DM, Bielak LF, Bis JC, Boorgula MP, Bowden DW, Broome JG, Buth EJ, Carlson CS, Chang KM, Chavan S, Chiu YF, Chuang LM, Conomos MP, DeMeo DL, Du M, Duggirala R, Eng C, Fohner AE, Freedman BI, Garrett ME, Guo X, Haiman C, Heavner BD, Hidalgo B, Hixson JE, Ho YL, Hobbs BD, Hu D, Hui Q, Hwu CM, Jackson RD, Jain D, Kalyani RR, Kardia SLR, Kelly TN, Lange EM, LeNoir M, Li C, Le Marchand L, McDonald MN, McHugh CP, Morrison AC, Naseri T, NHLBI Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) Consortium, O'Connell J, O'Donnell CJ, Palmer ND, Pankow JS, Perry JA, Peters U, Preuss MH, Rao DC, Regan EA, Reupena SM, Roden DM, Rodriguez-Santana J, Sitlani CM, Smith JA, Tiwari HK, Vasan RS, Wang Z, Weeks DE, Wessel J, Wiggins KL, Wilkens LR, Wilson PWF, Yanek LR, Yoneda ZT, Zhao W, Zöllner S, Arnett DK, Ashley-Koch AE, Barnes KC, Blangero J, Boerwinkle E, Burchard EG, Carson AP, Chasman DI, Ida Chen YD, Curran JE, Fornage M, Gordeuk VR, He J, Heckbert SR, Hou L, Irvin MR, Kooperberg C, Minster RL, Mitchell BD, Nouraie M, Psaty BM, Raffield LM, Reiner AP, Rich SS, Rotter JI, Benjamin Shoemaker M, Smith NL, Taylor KD, Telen MJ, Weiss ST, Zhang Y, Heard-Costa N, Sun YV, Lin X, Cupples LA, Lange LA, Liu CT, Loos RJF, North KE, Justice AE
Anticoagulation and other risk factors for clinically relevant bleeding after medical hospitalization: the Medical Inpatient Thrombosis and Hemostasis Study.
(2025 Mar 21)
J Thromb Haemost
Gergi M, Wilkinson K, Sparks A, Roetker NS, Al-Samkari H, Smith NL, Plante TB, Cushman M, Repp AB, Holmes CE, Martin K, Zakai NA
Endocrine therapy and risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality in postmenopausal breast cancer survivors.
(2025 Mar 11)
J Natl Cancer Inst
Huang Y, Kwan ML, Heckbert SR, Smith NL, Othus M, Laurent CA, Roh JM, Rillamas-Sun E, Lee VS, Kolevska T, Cheng RK, Irribarren C, Nguyen-Huynh M, Hershman DL, Kushi LH, Greenlee H
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