Dr. Lily Yan and Dr. Jean Pierre Lookens Selected as AHA Epi Early Career Awardees

Earlier this month, Dr. Lily Yan, Fellow in General Internal Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and Center for Global Health Research Fellow,and Dr. Jean Pierre Lookens,CVD Fellow and physician at GHESKIO, were both selected as American Heart Association (AHA) Epi Early Career Awardees at the 2022 AHA EPILifestyle Scientific Sessions conference in Chicago, Illinois. The primary goal of the conference was to promote population health science related to promotion of cardiovascular health and prevention of heart disease and stroke.

Dr.  Yan and Dr. Lookens presented four abstracts from the Haiti Cardiovascular Disease Cohort Study (PI Dr. Molly McNairy, faculty at the Center for Global Health) during the conference. Titles of the four abstracts presented are as follows:

• Comparison of Existing Cardiovascular Risk Prediction Models in Haiti: Implications for Primary Prevention in Lower-income Countries
• High Lead Levels Associated with Elevated Blood Pressure in Haiti: A Warning Sign
• Perceived Stress, Social Support, and Blood Pressure in Urban Haiti
• Neighborhood Cohesion and Violence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and Their Relationship to Cardiovascular Risk Factors of Stress, Depression, and Blood Pressure

Dr. Lily Yan and Dr. Jean Pierre Lookens presenting at the 2022 AHA EpiLifestyle Scientific Sessions conference in Chicago, Illinois

This is an exciting moment for the CVD team as they have been building CVD research infrastructure in Haiti and Weill Cornell Medicine global sites for the past five years, and are now beginning the exciting phase of data dissemination and turning their findings into local interventions that will change lives.