March 14, 2017

Virginia Howard, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Epidemiology
School of Public Health
University of Alabama at Birmingham

Friday, March 24, 2017
3:30 p.m.
Public Health Research Center 
Auditorium 114

Lessons Learned, Results, and Data Sharing from a National Accelerometer Study in Black and White Adults:  The REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) Study

Dr. Virginia Howard is a stroke epidemiologist with experience in multicenter stroke clinical trials and observational cohort studies. She received a master's degree in biostatistics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a PhD in epidemiology from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Her research interests include stroke symptoms and associated risk factors, life-course exposure to the stroke belt geographic region, and risk factors for outcomes following carotid endarterectomy and carotid stenting. Her teaching activities focus on cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease epidemiology.

“REGARDS successfully enrolled and conducted in-home visits, and is following these participants from across the US for stroke, cognitive decline, and related risk factors. In REGARDS, Dr. Howard was the lead epidemiologist in the design of the protocol and operational procedures for the enrollment and follow-up activities and a key team member in selection of the specific data elements and mode of data collection for enrollment and follow-up. She has been a leader in the design and conduct of ancillary studies that take advantage of the established cohort for supplemental data acquisition and sharing of data. Dr. Howard is PI of the NIA-funded R01 REGARDS ancillary study focused on identifying childhood and family socioeconomic (SES) factors that shape disparities in vascular and cognitive health. She was the UAB lead investigator working with the University of South Carolina team of Dr. Steve Hooker, Dr. Steve Blair, and Mr. Brent Hutto on the ancillary study that expanded measures of physical activity in REGARDS to collect objective measures through the use of accelerometers to study the relationship of objectively measured physical activity with the incidence of stroke and cognitive function.”