Jeff VanHoy may get better control of his high cholesterol thanks to major donor support of Providence Heart Institute’s Center for Cardiovascular Analytics, Research + Data Science (CARDS).
After his heart attack in 2011, Jeff did all the right things. He completed cardiac rehab, improved his diet, increased his exercise and began a regimen of cholesterol medications. Now, his cardiologist, Ty Gluckman, M.D., is leading a major study to see if patients with high cholesterol might benefit from a more intense cholesterol-lowering regimen.
In this study, Dr. Gluckman, medical director of CARDS, is testing a treatment formula first developed at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in a study of fewer than 1,000 patients. Through CARDS Dr. Gluckman will test the formula against the records of more than a million patients.
“We want to individualize our therapies and move away from a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach,” said Dr. Gluckman. “Big data holds potential to better understand which patients are most likely to benefit.”
Jeff is eager to learn the study’s results. “There’s a lot of different information out there about what works for different people,” he said. “If this research can deliver a more definitive answer that would be great.”
"We want to individualize our therapies...big data holds potential to better understand which patients are most likely to benefit.”