NIH announces awards for next phase of the Jackson Heart Study

WHAT: The National Institutes of Health have announced five new contract awards for the next phase of the Jackson Heart Study (JHS), the largest research study in history to investigate the biological, genetic , and environmental risk factors associated with the disproportionate burden of cardiovascular disease in African-Americans.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for all Americans. Among African-Americans, nearly 44 percent of men and 48 percent of women have some form of cardiovascular disease, which includes heart disease and stroke, and about 1 in 4 dies of heart disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Launched in 1998, the JHS is a longitudinal cohort study that follows the health of about 5,300 African-Americans in the Jackson, Mississippi, metropolitan area. Like many other communities in the Southeastern United States, Jackson has high rates of death and disability from cardiovascular disease.

The study includes community education and outreach activities to promote healthy lifestyles and lower the risks of disease. It also conducts college and graduate-level trainings as well as high school science and math enrichment programs to prepare and encourage underrepresented minority students to pursue biomedical careers.

With the wealth of data and biological samples the study has collected, researchers are conducting whole-genome sequencing of some 3,500 JHS participants through NHLBI’s precision medicine program, Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine, to identify new genetic risk factors for cardiovascular disease and new targets for therapy. The 2018-2024 phase of the study will also investigate the link between cardiovascular health and brain health.

The JHS is funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.

The JHS awards for this period are:

• A coordinating center to maximize the use of JHS participants’ data and samples amassed over 16 years to address new questions about the development and progression of cardiovascular disease and related conditions.

University of Mississippi Medical Center; Adolfo Correa, M.D., Ph.D.

• A field center to continue contact with and data collection in the JHS cohort.

University of Mississippi Medical Center; Adolfo Correa, M.D., Ph.D.

• The Community Engagement Center (CEC) to support activities to promote cardiovascular health in the Jackson community and beyond.

Mississippi State Department of Health; Victor D. Sutton, Ph.D.

• Training and education centers for cardiovascular epidemiology and related biomedical research, targeting underrepresented minority undergraduate and/or post-graduate students and leveraging the resources and research opportunities of the JHS.
  • Undergraduate training and education center - Tougaloo College; Wendy White, Ph.D., M.P.H.
  • Graduate training and education center - Jackson State University; Marinelle Payton, M.D., Ph.D.,  and the University of Mississippi Medical Center; Bettina M. Beech, Dr.P.H., M.P.H.

WHO: David Goff, M.D., Director, Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, NHLBI, NIH.

Jackson Heart Study

https://www.jacksonheartstudy.org/