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CeNter for the StUdy of
AdveRsiTy and
CardiovascUlaR DiseasE
Nurture Center
Division of Cardiology,
Department of Medicine
University of California
San Francisco
Nurture Center
Brief Overview
A new interdisciplinary translational
research center within Cardiology,
“CeNter for the StUdy of AdveRsiTy and
CardiovascUlaR DiseasE (NURTURE)’ is
being created and will be directed by
Michelle A. Albert, MD MPH.
The center will consist of research,
educational, training and communitybased components. The goal is to
understand the “biology of adversity”
and its impact on health, particularly
cardiovascular health.
We aim to understand the mechanisms
through which chronic psychological
stress (chronic stress) and societal
conditions influence cardiovascular
disease onset, progression and outcome.
In addition to traditional longitudinal
epidemiology and outcomes research
approaches, core components of the
Center will focus on the interplay between
chronic stress/society with molecular
processes, neurology and genetics.
Cardiovascular disease is deadly
worldwide, increasingly afflicting people
of all ages. Thus, a key focus of research
within NURTURE will be to assess and
develop implemewill be to assess and
develop implementation strategies aimed
at persons at risk across the lifespan.
Another central feature of the Center
will be to teach, mentor and provide
a framework to develop the careers
of persons interested in studying the
underlying role of adversity on health
outcomes.
Mission
To improve educational and cardiovascular health through research and
interventional science that identifies the biological mechanisms of adversity tied
to social determinants of health globally.
General Goals
1. To perform targeted
science to understand the
biological mechanisms of
adversity with particular
focus on the impact of
chronic psychological
stress and of neurological
activity on cardiovascular
health in order to inform
novel interventions;
2. To widen and strengthen
the pool of investigators
in the science of
adversity.
3.To build on the concept of
“big data and big
science” by collaborating
with established cohort
studies, Centers of
Interest and nontraditional entities to
expand the scientific
brand of adversitycardiovascular disease
Examples of specific
“big” questions that
need to be addressed
utilizing a lifecourse
approach:
How does peri-partum
adversity contribute to the
initiation, progression and
outcome of cardiovascular
diseases (e.g heart failure,
early onset hypertension,
arrhythmias)?
Why should
this matter
to me?
1.Every 30 seconds =
Cardiovascular Death
Deadliest disease
2. Poverty = Adversity
3 billion people globally;
How does the
human brain and the
cardiovascular system
interact in the setting of
adversity?
How does chronic
psychological stress
related to adversity affect
an individual’s social and
“biological fitness” or “ability to
adhere” to proven behavioral
and drug interventions for
common cardiovascular
conditions?
How does adversity
interact with demographic
factors such as gender and
race/ethnicity to influence
differential “biological
ability” to achieve
advantaged cardiovascular
health outcomes?
Childhood Poverty
At least 1 billion children
(22,000 die daily)
3. Chronic psychological stress
DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE
and can affect ANYONE
4.Virtually no clinical or
behavioral therapies target
the neuro-cardiovascular
axis of disease.
Adversity and disadvantage
exquisitely affect cognitive,
autonomic and biological
regulatory systems that
cause disease.
5. C ardiovascular Health Outcome =
Adversity + Resilience
Wealth
“We seek to unravel the
biological and social
interconnectivity of adversity
across the lifespan in an
effort to develop sustainable
solutions to improving health,
particularly cardiovascular
health…...this research seeks
to perform transformative
multidisciplinary work to
inform health interventions
that have global scope in
”
improving the lives of people
Michelle A. Albert, MD MPH
Professor of Medicine in
Residence
Director, CeNter
for the StUdy of AdveRsiTy
and CardiovascUlaR
DiseasE
[NURTURE CENTER]
University of California,
San Francisco
Division of Cardiology,
Department of Medicine
505 Parnassus Avenue, M1177
San Francisco, CA 94143