Cardiovascular epidemiology · Population health · Prevention
Niharika Ikkurthy,
MBBS, MPH
Physician-Epidemiologist · Cardiovascular Epidemiology & Prevention
I study cardiovascular and cardiometabolic disease through population-based and clinical research, with interests in behavioral and metabolic risk factors, biomarkers, health disparities, and clinically meaningful prevention.
Currently
Clinical Research Associate
Smidt Heart Institute · Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Research focus
Cardiometabolic prevention · Population health · Biomarkers · Physical activity · Cardiovascular outcomes
Based in
Los Angeles, California
Research
Questions that connect population health to cardiovascular prevention.
My work draws on epidemiologic datasets, clinical research, biomarkers, and quantitative methods to understand how risk develops and how cardiovascular disease may be prevented earlier.
01
Cardiometabolic Prevention
Obesity, metabolic health, nutrition, inflammation, and other modifiable determinants of cardiovascular risk.
02
Physical Activity & Behavioral Epidemiology
How activity, sedentary behavior, and patterns of movement accumulation relate to cardiometabolic health.
03
Cardiovascular Biomarkers & Phenotyping
Using circulating biomarkers and clinically meaningful phenotypes to characterize cardiovascular risk and disease.
04
Cardiovascular Outcomes & Population Health
National datasets, cohorts, and clinical data to study outcomes, disparities, disease trends, and risk stratification.
Selected projects
Current and recent research.
NHANES / NDI · Ongoing
Iron Status, hs-Troponin T & Mortality
Population-based analysis using complex-survey methods, biomarker phenotyping, sex-stratified models, and linked mortality outcomes.
NHANES · Ongoing
Activity Fragmentation & Cardiometabolic Health
Examining whether the way physical activity is accumulated throughout the day provides information beyond total activity alone.
PREDIMED-Plus · MPH thesis
Mental Health & Cardiovascular Biomarkers
Assessment of depressive symptoms in relation to hs-TnT, NT-proBNP, hs-CRP, oxidative-stress, and fibrosis biomarkers.
NHANES · Ongoing
ApoB & Cardiometabolic Risk in U.S. Adolescents
Prevention-focused work examining apolipoprotein B, dysglycemia, obesity, and cardiometabolic risk in adolescents.
Data & methods
Clinical questions, quantitative tools, reproducible workflows.
Population datasets
NHANES / NDI
PREDIMED-Plus
CDC WONDER
All of Us
MIMIC-IV
Methods
Complex-survey analysis
Regression & survival methods
Interaction / effect modification
Meta-analysis
Risk prediction
Programming
R
Python
SAS
R Markdown / Quarto
Data visualization
Clinical research
EHR & registries
Clinical trials
EDC / CTMS systems
Phenotype development
Manuscript development
Selected publications
Recent scholarly work.
Sleep deprivation and thyroid function: systematic review and meta-analysis
Journal of Endocrinological Investigation · 2026 · DOI: 10.1007/s40618-026-03029-5
Low albumin, heavy hearts: role of hypoalbuminemia in infiltrative cardiomyopathies
Cardiology in Review · 2026 · DOI: 10.1097/CRD.0000000000001283
A prospective study of high-impact chronic pain in sickle cell disease: The SPiRIt study
PAIN · 2026 · DOI: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000003956
Procollagen I carboxyterminal propeptide: a multi-faceted biomarker
Biochemia Medica · 2026 · DOI: 10.11613/BM.2026.020502
Clinical biomarker potential of spectrin breakdown degradation products: a systematic review
Current Medical Research and Opinion · 2026 · DOI: 10.1080/03007995.2026.2633459
View full publication list →
Research notes
Writing, methods, and ideas in progress.
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The Future of Cardiovascular Risk Assessment
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The Future of Cardiovascular Risk Assessment
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The Future of Cardiovascular Risk Assessment
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About
Physician training, epidemiology, and cardiovascular research.
I am an MBBS-trained physician and epidemiologist with an MPH in Epidemiology from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. My research interests center on cardiovascular and cardiometabolic disease prevention, particularly how behavioral, metabolic, and biological factors shape cardiovascular risk across populations.
I currently work in cardiovascular clinical research at the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Previously, I worked with the Heart Failure Research Team at Emory and conducted my MPH thesis using data from the PREDIMED-Plus cohort.
My longer-term goal is to connect rigorous epidemiologic methods with clinically meaningful cardiovascular prevention and outcomes research.
Education
MPH, Epidemiology
Rollins School of Public Health
Emory University · 2025
MBBS
NRI Institute of Medical Sciences
Visakhapatnam, India · 2019
Contact
nikkurthy@alumni.emory.edu
Los Angeles, CA
Professional links →
© Niharika Ikkurthy · niharika.bio