New and Renewed NIH Funding Strengthens UW Epidemiology Research
Alison Fohner, Nicholas L. Smith and Sara Lindström have secured new awards or competing renewals, supporting research spanning dementia, cardiovascular disease, cancer genetics and more. These awards reflect the breadth and impact of research taking place across UW Epidemiology and the continued leadership of our faculty in advancing population health through innovative epidemiologic research.
Alison Fohner: Investigating the Biology of Cognitive Decline and Dementia
Alison Fohner has received NIH funding for a large-scale study investigating how blood can reveal early biological mechanisms underlying cognitive decline and dementia.
The project will draw on two longstanding NIH-funded epidemiologic cohorts to combine decades of cognitive assessments, diagnoses, brain imaging, and multiomic molecular data: the Cardiovascular Health Study and the Framingham Heart Study. Fohner and her team will use these data to identify biological markers associated with cognitive decline and dementia, investigate which relationships may be causal, and identify biological pathways that could point to new targets for prevention and treatment. Partners will validate epidemiologic finding in human brain tissue and neurons.
Nicholas L. Smith: Advancing Cardiovascular Research
Nicholas L. Smith has secured two R01-level awards supporting research into cardiovascular disease and aging.
A new award will investigate the genomic and proteomic factors associated with recurrent venous thromboembolism (VTE), including deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. Smith’s team will combine genetic and blood-based molecular data from large cohorts to identify factors that may help predict who is most likely to experience a recurrence.
Smith also secured a competing renewal, alongside emeritus faculty member Bruce M. Psaty, for the CHARGE Consortium. The renewed funding will continue to support the consortium’s research infrastructure, working groups, meetings, training opportunities and data-sharing efforts, helping advance genetic epidemiology research and train the next generation of investigators.
Sara Lindström: Exploring Shared Genetic Risk Across Cancers
Sara Lindström is a co-investigator on a new five-year NCI R01 with Burcu Darst. The project builds on Lindström’s work examining genetic risk across multiple cancer types.
Rather than studying each cancer in isolation, the team will analyze genetic data across hundreds of thousands of cancer cases to identify genetic factors and biological pathways shared across cancers. The researchers will also investigate how these shared genetic factors may contribute to rare cancers, where smaller sample sizes can make genetic discoveries more difficult.
The work could help clarify which biological mechanisms are common across cancers and which are cancer-specific, potentially informing new approaches to cancer prevention, risk prediction and treatment.