HAPIEE Study

Collaborating centres

The study is a collaborative effort between our group at UCL and researchers in Krakow (Poland), Prague (Czech Republic), Kaunas (Lithuania) and Novosibirsk (Russia).

Institute of Internal Medicine, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia, has participated in the WHO MONICA Project and post-MONICA activities; EuroStroke-project; an international collaborative studies on cardiovascular disease in North natives. The group converted the cross-sectional surveys (required by the MONICA protocol) into a prospective follow up study, and they have maintained a "hot pursuit" register of myocardial infarction and stroke since the formal termination of the MONICA project. The Novosibirsk study is currently the most reliable source of information on levels of and trends in cardiovascular risk factors, and maintains one of the few, and probably the most reliable, longitudinal study in Russia. Prof. Yuri Nikitin, the PI for the Novosibirsk MONICA centre, has extensive expertise in research of atherosclerosis and population studies. Dr Malyutina, the head of Survey Centre, a cardiologist and epidemiologist, has expertise in population prospective studies, co-ordinated local MONICA activities and the Russian part of the pilot study, and is currently in charge of the Russian part of the cohort study.

Centre for Environmental Health, National Institute of Public Health in Prague, Czech Republic is the main centre of expertise on research and policy related to environmental exposures. The centre has been involved in a number of other epidemiological studies, mainly examining environmental exposures and their effects on human health. Dr Ruzena Kubinova, a public health physician and the Director of the centre, is also director of the National Programme of Monitoring of Environment and Health, funded by the Czech government. A few years ago, the programme has acknowledged the importance of socio-economic determinants of health, and this became a major focus of the programme. Part of the programme is an ongoing series of population surveys rotating between 32 cities that cover all of the Czech Republic. At present, Dr Kubinova is chairing a committee that examines the evidence on potential impact of nuclear power stations on health. Dr Kubinova has been responsible for the Czech part of the pilot study, and she is in charge of the Czech part of the present cohort study.

Department of Epidemiology and Population Studies, Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland participated in a number of international studies mainly in a field of cardiovascular epidemiology. The largest study was The WHO MONICA Project. Dr Pajak, medical epidemiologist and Head of the Department, has been the principal investigator of the Tarnobrzeg part of project and elected member of the international MONICA Steering Committee for the years 2000-2002. He also was a co-ordinator of US and Poland Collaborative Study carried out from 1980-2000, which focus on scientific exchange and collaboration in the field of cardiovascular disease epidemiology. Later the team participated in the international CASCADE Project which investigated the relation between the exposure to CVD risk factors at middle age with cognitive function in old age. The Department has had a close link with the UCL group for more than a decade, first within the framework of the EU funded CHEWE network (see above), and later through the Wellcome Trust funded pilot study that lead to the current cohort study.

Department of Population Studies, Institute of Cardiology of Kaunas University of Medicine, Kaunas, Lithuania, has been involved in a number of population based epidemiological studies and prevention programs related to cardiovascular and other non-communicable diseases. The department participated in international projects, such as the Kaunas Rotterdam Intervention Study (KRIS), the WHO MONICA Project, CINDI, and MORGAM. The Kaunas center currently has the most reliable source of data on levels and trends in cardiovascular risk factors in the urban population and the most reliable data from the longitudinal prospective studies on the prognostic value of these risk factors to the cardiovascular mortality and morbidity in Lithuania. From 1971 to present, the Department of Population Studies has been responsible for a population based register of acute myocardial infarction in Kaunas. At present time, the center is involved in an EU project "The use of stroke registers to assess the quality of stroke management across Europe" (EROS). Prof. Domarkiene is head and Dr Tamosiunas senior researcher in the Department of Population Studies. Both are trained cardiologists and epidemiologists. Dr Domarkiene has been the supervisor of the Kaunas-MONICA project, and she is currently the PI in the Lithuanian MORGAM project. Dr Tamosiunas has been involved in all above projects above as co-investigator.

 

This page last modified 22 January, 2008 by [Content Provider]