Strong Heart Study (SHS) – Coordinating Center (CC)

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) intends to award a modification to an existing contract for the Strong Heart Study (SHS) – Coordinating Center (CC). The contract will support the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC) in providing administrative, data analytics, and management expertise for the SHS Field Centers. The study aims to examine the incidence and prevalence of cardiovascular disease in Native American populations, identify genetic and additional risk factors, and assess co-morbidities. The contract will also support the SHS Field Centers in maintaining continued contact with and collecting data from the SHS cohort. Key aspects of the project include: • Investigating the high risk of cardiovascular disease and related conditions in Native American populations • Enabling investigations of new risk factors or interactions among factors that inform disease pathophysiology • Enhancing statistical power to perform analyses of predictors of clinical events • Fostering scientific collaborations and maintaining existing data and biospecimen repositories • Supporting training of junior investigators, especially Native American Indian investigators