Research

• Active projects:

  • Currently involved in the Cathworks study (Co PI with Dr. Ray Matthews)

  • All Rise Study

• Research Interest:

  • Coronary artery disease Nas. Peripheral vascular disease

• Active projects:

  • Impella Dependence in High Risk PCI – JACC 2/2023

  • Instantaneous detection of acute MI in rats – European Heart Journal 7/2023

• Research Interest:

  • Interventional cardiology

  • Interventional heart failure

• Active projects:

  • Standing scales QI Project

  • The Effects of Medication Regimen Complexity on Heart Failure Readmissions in an Underserved Population

  • QI Project: Telehealth vs In-person follow-up in HF clinic

  • Complex Case Studies of Patients with Methamphetamine-Associated Cardiomyopathy

• Research Interest:

  • Biometric Scale Monitoring of Heart Failure Post-Hospitalization

  • Smartphone Delivered Cardiac Rehabilitation in Heart Failure

  • Intrinsic Frequency Assessment of Cardiac Function

• Research Interest:

  • Prevention and treatment of heart disease among patients with cancer and amyloidosis

  • Strategies to reduce health care disparities among patients with end-stage heart failure being considered for advanced therapies

  • Novel approaches to expand the donor pool for heart transplantation

• Active projects:

  • UNOS (United Network of Organ Sharing) Registry Analyses

  • Heart Failure Clinical Trial Registry Analyses

  • DAPA-OHT: SGLT2 inhibitor in Heart Transplant Randomized Clinical Trial

  • Antibody Desensitization case series

  • Hemodynamics in Heart Failure trials

  • Cell Free DNA in Heart Transplant Clinical Registry Analyses

  • Artificial Intelligence Solutions in Heart Failure

• Research Interest:

  • Clinical trials with novel heart failure therapeutics

  • Antibody desensitization strategies

  • Heart failure and transplant outcomes research

  • Non-invasive allograft rejection surveillance

  • Artificial Intelligence Solutions in Heart Failure

  • Diversity in Cardiovascular Training

• Active projects:

  • UNOS (United Network of Organ Sharing) Registry Analyses

  • Heart Failure Clinical Trial Registry Analyses

  • DAPA-OHT: SGLT2 inhibitor in Heart Transplant Randomized Clinical Trial

  • Antibody Desensitization case series

  • Hemodynamics in Heart Failure trials

  • Cell Free DNA in Heart Transplant Clinical Registry Analyses

  • Artificial Intelligence Solutions in Heart Failure

• Research Interest:

  • Clinical trials with novel heart failure therapeutics

  • Antibody desensitization strategies

  • Heart failure and transplant outcomes research

  • Non-invasive allograft rejection surveillance

  • Artificial Intelligence Solutions in Heart Failure

  • Diversity in Cardiovascular Training

• Research Interest:
  • The primary venue for my research teaching and mentoring centers around the Cardiovascular Outcomes Research Lab (CORL), a virtual dry lab I created for teaching and research where existing data combined with contemporary statistical techniques are used to ask (and hopefully) answer questions designed to improve the outcomes of patients with cardiovascular disease. Leveraging available data eliminates the most time-consuming and expensive aspect of most research projects, data collection. Thus, trainees may complete a project in a reasonable amount of time. CORL serves as a platform for educating and mentoring students, residents, fellows, and others interested in experiencing the research process firsthand.
  • Lab members learn how to become a content expert in the research topic of choice, how to generate and refine a hypothesis, how to identify and obtain relevant data sources, how to organize and analyze data, how to write and present abstracts, and how to construct and publish a manuscript. Examples of recent projects with publications are below. In all cases the first author was a medical student, internal medicine resident or cardiology fellow.

• Research Projects:

  • Pierce B, Bole I, Patel V, Brown DL. Clinical outcomes of remote ischemic preconditioning prior to cardiac surgery: an updated meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.116.004666. Journal of the American Heart Association. 2017;6:e004666. Originally published February 20, 2017.

  • Fohtung RB, Brown DL, Koh WJH, Bartz TM, Carbone LD, Civitelli R, Stein PK, Chaves PHM, Kestenbaum BR, Kizer JR, Bone mineral density and risk of heart failure in older adults: the Cardiovascular Health Study. https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.116.004344. Journal of the American Heart Association. 2017;6:e004344. Originally published March 13, 2017.

  • Patel V, Pierce B, Bodapati R, Brown DL, Ives D, Stein P. Association of Holter-derived heart rate variability with the development of heart failure in the Cardiovascular Health Study. JACC: Heart Failure Apr 2017, 609; DOI: 10.1016/j.jchf.2016.12.015.

  • Chung M, Novak E, Brown DL. Effect of prompt revascularization on outcomes in diabetics with stable ischemic heart disease and prior myocardial infarction: insights from the BARI 2D Trial. Coronary Artery Disease 2017. 28(4):301-306.

  • Khan AA, Chung M, Novak E, Brown DL. The long-term hazard of smoking in diabetic patients with stable ischemic heart disease. Eur J Prev Cardiol; Originally published May 18,2017. https://doi.org/10.1177/2047487317711046.

  • Khan AA, Chung MJ, Novak E, Brown DL. Increased hazard of myocardial infarction with insulin-provision therapy in actively smoking patients with diabetes mellitus and stable ischemic heart disease: the Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigation 2 Diabetes (BARI 2D) Trial. Journal of the American Heart Association. Originally published September 13, 2017; https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.117.005946.

  • Saeed MJ, Turner TE, Brown DL. Trends in inferior vena cava filter placement by indication in the United States From 2005 to 2014. JAMA Intern Med. Published online November 06, 2017. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2017.5960

  • Mitchell JD, Brown DL. Harmonizing the Paradigm with the Data: A Review and Viewpoint. Journal of the American Heart Association. 2017;6:e007006, originally published November 13, 2017.

  • Reinhardt SW, Lin C-J, Novak E, Brown DL. Non-invasive cardiac testing versus clinical evaluation alone in acute chest pain:  a secondary analysis of the Randomized Rule-Out Myocardial Infarction with Computer-Assisted Tomography (ROMICAT)-II trial. JAMA Intern Med. Published online November 14, 2017. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2017.7360.

  • Turner TE, Saeed MJ, Novak E, Brown DL. Association of inferior vena cava filter placement for venous thromboembolic disease and a contraindication to anticoagulation with 30-day mortality. JAMA Network Open. 2018;1(3): e180452. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.0452

  • Reinhardt SW, Babatunde A, Novak E, Brown DL. Effect of race on outcomes following early coronary computed tomographic angiography or standard emergency department evaluation for acute chest pain. Ethn Dis. 2018;28(4):517- 524.

  • McNally CA, Brown DL. Gaming, upcoding, fraud, and the stubborn persistence of unstable angina. JAMA Intern Med; published online December 17, 2018. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2018.5967

  • Sadhu JS, Novak E, Mukamal KJ, Kizer JR, Psaty BM, Stein PK, Brown DL. Association of alcohol consumption after development of heart failure with survival among older adults in the Cardiovascular Health Study. JAMA Netw Open. 2018;1(8):e186383. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.6383

  • Dunn T, Saeed MJ, Shpigel A, Novak E, Alhamad T, Stwalley D, Rich MW, Brown DL. The association of preoperative cardiac stress testing with 30-day death and myocardial infarction among patients undergoing kidney transplantation. PLoS ONE 2019;14(2): e0211161. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0211161

  • Perry A, Chung MJ, Novak E, Krone R, Brown DL. Development of a risk score to identify patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and multivessel coronary artery disease who can defer bypass surgery. Diagnostic and Prognostic Research 2019; 3:3. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41512-019-0048-7.

  • Shpigel AA, Saeed MJ, Novak E, Alhamad T, Rich MW, Brown DL. Center-related variation in cardiac stress testing in the 18 months prior to renal transplantation. JAMA Intern Med. Published online May 13, 2019. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2019.0423

  • Rashid A, Agarwala A, Novak E, Brown DL. The association of high birth weight with incident heart failure in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study. J Am Heart Assoc. 2019;8:e011524. doi: 10.1161/jaha.118.011524.

  • Soares A, Brown DL. The fallacies of fractional flow reserve. Int J Cardiol 2019; Online before print. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcard.2019.12.040

  • Ge A, Brown DL. Assessment of cardiovascular diagnostic tests and procedures offered in executive screening programs at top-ranked cardiology hospitals. JAMA Intern Med. Published online January 13, 2020. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2019.6607

  • Gdowski M, Murthy VL, Doering M, Monroy‐Gonzalez AG, Slart R, Brown DL. Association of isolated coronary microvascular dysfunction with mortality and major adverse cardiac events: a systematic review and meta‐analysis of aggregate data. Originally published 29 Apr 2020. Journal of the American Heart Association. https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.119.014954

  • Wolfe NK, Mitchell JD, Brown DL. The independent reduction in mortality associated with guideline-directed medical therapy in patients with coronary artery disease and heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. European Heart Journal – Quality of Care and Clinical Outcomes 2020; https://doi.org/10.1093/ehjqcco/qcaa032

  • Williams C, Brown DL. Effect of random deferral of percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with diabetes and stable ischemic heart disease. Heart Epub ahead of print: 22 July 2020. doi:10.1136/ heartjnl-2019-316432.

  • Perry AS, Mann DL, Brown DL. Improvement of ejection fraction and mortality in ischaemic heart failure. Heart Published Online First: 25 August 2020. doi: 10.1136/heartjnl-2020-316975

  • O’Fee K, Panza JA, Brown DL. The association of inducible myocardial ischemia with long-term mortality and benefit from coronary artery bypass graft surgery in ischemic cardiomyopathy: ten-year follow-up of the STICH trial. Circulation 2021; 143(2):205-207.

  • Soares A, Boden WE, Hueb W, Brooks MM, Vlachos HEA, O’Fee K, Hardi A, Brown DL. Death and myocardial infarction following initial revascularization versus optimal medical therapy in chronic coronary syndromes with myocardial ischemia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of contemporary randomized controlled trials. JAHA 2021;10:e019114.

  • Husaini M, Esmaeeli A, Thangam M, Doering M, Brown DL. Synthesis of systematic reviews of percutaneous device closure of patent foramen ovale (PFO) for prevention of recurrent cryptogenic stroke: redundant publications and methodologic deficiencies. Am Heart J 2021;232:57-60.

  • Schiffer WB, Perry A, Deych E, Brown DL, Adamo L. Association of early versus delayed normalisation of left ventricular ejection fraction with mortality in ischemic cardiomyopathy. Open Heart 2021;8:e001528. doi: 10.1136/openhrt-2020-001528.

  • O’Fee K, Deych E, Ciani O, Brown DL. Assessment of Nonfatal Myocardial Infarction as a Surrogate for All-Cause and Cardiovascular Mortality in Treatment or Prevention of Coronary Artery Disease: A Meta-analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials. JAMA Intern Med. Published online October 25, 2021. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2021.5726

• Research Interest:

  • • Atrial Fibrillation

    • Peripheral Artery Disease

    • Cardiovascular Epidemiology

    • Inflammatory Biomarkers

• Active projects:

  • • Improved Myocardial Perfusion Assessment using High-Performance Low-Field MRI

    • Novel Identification of Myocardial Scar Tissue using Arterial Spin Labeling

    • Primary/Senior investigator on Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis Study projects

    • Primary investigator on Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study projects

    • Senior investigator on Vascular Quality Initiative Registry projects

    • Primary investigator on Cardiovascular Health Study projects

    • Primary investigator on UK Biobank projects
• Clinical Trials:

  • • HORIZON Study 

    • VICTORIAN-INITIATE Study 

    • VICTORIAN-2P Study 

    • AFFIRM(a) Study

  • Research Opportunities: Currently looking for students, residents and fellows for any of the projects listed above. (if interested please contact gretchen.heintze@med.usc.edu)

Digital Health and Virtual Care Models
Augmented and Immersive Technology, Virtual Human Agents and Artificial Intelligence for Medicine
Mobile Application Implementation and Research for Medical Applications
Wearable and Implantable Sensor Technology and Big Data Analytics
Elite Athletic & Military Performance & Resiliency Evaluation

• Active projects:

  • • An Adaptive Phase 2/3 Multicenter, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Randomized, parallel, 3 Arm Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of DA-1229 (Evogliptin) in Patient’s Calcific Aortic Aalve Disease with Mild to Moderate Aortic Stenosis (EVOID-AS)

      • Research Opportunities: Currently looking for fellows and residents for subject recruitment.

        • (if interested please contact gretchen.heintze@med.usc.edu)

    • Percutaneous or Surgical Repair IN Mitral Prolapse And Regurgitation for >65Year-olds(PRIMARY)

    • Speckle Strain Imaging to Improve Early Identification of Left ventricular Dysfunction in Heart Transplant Patients who develop cardiac allograft vasculopathy

      • Research Opportunities: Can use fellow/resident for subject recruitment. (please contact gretchen.heintze@med.usc.edu)

• Research Interest:

  • Preventative Cardiology

  • Cardiovascular Disease in Women

  • Cardiac Evaluation of Solid Organ Transplant Candidates

  • Application of Information Technology in Medicine

  • Signal processing for Improvement of Echocardiographic imaging

• Active projects:

  • Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial of Integrated Management of Atrial Fibrillation in Women within the Los Angeles Department of Health Services

  • Application of Lung Ultrasound in Cardiovascular Stress Testing

  • Development of Cardiogenic Shock Registry (network of California public hospitals)

• Research Interest:

  • Cardiac Critical Care

  • Structural Heart Disease

  • Point-of-Care Ultrasound – Applications in Critical Care

  • Echocardiography

• Clinical Trials:

  • Atrial Fibrillation (Working with Dr. Enrique Ostrzega)

• Research Interest:

  • Approach and techniques for catheter ablation of persistent atrial fibrillation

  • High resolution mapping in complex atrial and ventricular arrhythmias

  • Improvement of efficacy and safety in RF energy delivery and biophysics of lesion assessment

  • New technology in device therapy in cardiac pacing (especially CRT) and defibrillation

  • Intracardiac echocardiography for real-time imaging in complex ablation procedures

• Active projects:

  • • Advanced Cardiac Imaging Database

• Research Interest:

  • • • Advanced Cardiac Imaging

      • Cardiac Electrophysiology

• Active Projects:

  • Diamond II study – clinical evaluation of the Diamondtemp catheter ablation system in treatment of persistent atrial fibrillation

  • Leadless II IDE study of leadless Abbott AVEIR pacemaker

  • BAT wire study – feasibility and use of a percutaneous implant of the Barostim neuro modulation therapy for advanced heart failure

• Active projects:

  • Discovering The Electrical And Structural Substrate That Causes Persistent Atrial Fibrillation

  • A Role For Electrocardiograms in Aortic Stenosis Screening: A Prospective, Multi-Centered Trial

  • Left Atrial Low Voltage Area: A Comprehensive Marker for Atrial Fibrillation Progression and Stroke

    USC Atrial Fibrillation Registry

  • Real-AF (Real-World Experience of Catheter Ablation for the Treatment of Symptomatic Paroxysmal and PsAF (Using Novel Contact Force Technologies)

  • Stanford Presence – American Medical Association Collaboration

• Research Interest:

  • Atrial Fibrillation Mapping and Mechanisms

  • Structure Function Relationships in Atrial Fibrillation

  • Clinical Skills Assessment in Medical Curricula

  • Healthcare Disparities in US IMGs