Dr. Virginia Howard of UAB to receive the 2024 Population Research Prize

American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2024

Embargoed until 7 a.m. CT/8 a.m. ET, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024

DALLAS, Nov. 6, 2024 - Virginia J. Howard, Ph.D., FAHA, distinguished professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in Birmingham, Alabama, will receive this year's Population Research Prize at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2024. The meeting, Nov. 16-18, 2024, in Chicago, is a premier global exchange of the latest scientific advancements, research and evidence-based clinical practice updates in cardiovascular science. Dr. Howard will be presented with the award during the Presidential Session on Sunday, Nov. 17.

Dr. Howard's research centers on stroke and the many factors contributing to unequal burden of stroke. Her research interests are in long-term studies examining health disparities, cognitive functioning and stroke risk factors including sex differences.

She is the lead stroke epidemiologist for the REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study, a nearly 25-year cohort study examining why there are higher rates of death from strokes among Black adults than white adults in the U.S., and higher rates among the southeastern U.S. - referred to as the "Stroke Belt" - compared to the rest of the country. REGARDS is funded by both the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and the National Institute on Aging, divisions of the National Institutes of Health. In 2013, Dr. Howard published findings from REGARDS showing that after adjusting for stroke risk factors, only living in the Stroke Belt during one's teenage years was associated with a higher risk of stroke. Across all age groups, living in the Stroke Belt increased the risk about two-fold for Black participants compared to white participants. In 2020, she presented findings from REGARDS that suggest living in the Stroke Belt as a child or young adult may be associated with higher risks of cognitive impairment later in life, regardless of where you live later in life.

"Dr. Virginia Howard's career has significantly contributed to what we know about stroke," said Keith Churchwell, M.D., FAHA, American Heart Association 2024-2025 volunteer president, associate clinical professor of medicine at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, and adjunct associate professor of medicine at the Vanderbilt School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee. "Throughout her 30-plus years in epidemiology and clinical trials, we have learned more about stroke disparities in different racial groups, how stroke differs in women compared to men, and how early life exposures can affect a person's risk for stroke and cognitive impairment. Thanks to her years of focus and dedication, we have been able to make significant strides to improve stroke prevention and treatment."

In addition to REGARDS, she has been one of the lead clinical trial epidemiologists for five major stroke primary or secondary prevention multicenter clinical trials, including the ongoing NINDS-funded Carotid Revascularization and Medical Management for Asymptomatic Carotid Stenosis Trials (CREST-2) and the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)-funded Coordinated, Collaborative, Comprehensive, Family-Based Integrated, and Technology-Enabled Care (C3FIT). CREST-2 consists of two randomized clinical trials running parallel to one another. One trial looks at intense medical management of carotid stenosis, a narrowing of the blood vessels that supply blood to the brain, with or without carotid artery stenting. The other trial explores intensive medical management with or without carotid endarterectomy, a surgical procedure that removes plaque from the carotid artery. C3FIT is a clinical trial that compares two different models of care provided to people after they experience a stroke. The Joint Commission (JC)-certified Comprehensive or Primary Care (CSC/PSC) model is compared to an integrated, coordinated, technology-enabled Integrated Stroke Practice Unit (ISPU) model (that includes CSC/PSC care). Howard is also one of the founders of PRevention and Outcomes in Women Enhancing Stroke Support (PROWESS), a working group to raise awareness of stroke in women that supports the research of early-stage investigators, and to increase the enrollment of women in stroke-related clinical trials.

Dr. Howard is a distinguished professor of epidemiology at the UAB School of Public Health. She is also a senior scientist for 12 centers in the UAB's School of Medicine, the School of Public Health and the School of Health Professions. She is the author of more than 450 peer-reviewed journal articles and she serves as an editorial board member for the International Journal of Stroke, the journal Neurology and the Association's journal Stroke.

"It's a great honor to be recognized by the Association for my part in research exploring health risks of different populations," said Dr. Howard. "I'm a firm believer that when we know more, we do more. In terms of stroke prevention, that translates to the more we know about how early life factors, sex, race and geographic location influence the risk of having a stroke, the earlier we can implement interventions at the community and individual level to reduce stroke risk, even to prevent some of the risk factors from developing in the first place."

Dr. Howard earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics and psychology from St. Andrews Presbyterian College, a master of science in public health in biostatistics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a doctorate in epidemiology from the Medical University of South Carolina. She currently is a member of the planning committee for the Health Equity and Actionable Disparities in Stroke: Understanding and Problem-Solving (HEADS-UP) pre-conference symposium at the International Stroke Conference, and on many advisory committees to the Association. She has served on several writing groups for the Association's scientific statements, most recently having been the vice chair of the writing group for the 2021 scientific statement, "A Primary Care Agenda for Brain Health." She also served on Association writing groups related to Go Red for Women, surveillance policy, the presidential advisory on defining optimal brain health in adults, and guidelines for the management of patients with unruptured intracranial aneurysms. Howard was previously recognized by the Association in 2006 as the founding chair of the Stroke Statistics Committee and for her outstanding service to the Statistics Committee.

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