NESBITT LABORATORY

Shawna D. (Smith) Nesbitt, M.D. serves as the Medical Director of the Parkland Hypertension Clinic. Her research interests include clinical trials and epidemiology of hypertension and cardiovascular risk. Her area of research is hypertension in African Americans, insulin resistance, and hyperlipidemia.  Dr. Nesbitt is the National Coordinator for the TROPHY Study (Trial of Prevention Hypertension). The study is a 4-year trial which includes over 71 sites and more than 800 patients. She is funded by the National Institutes of Health to study the relationship of oxidative stress and genetics in the development of hypertension. She is the secretary treasurer for the International Society of Hypertension in Blacks (ISHIB). She is also Chairperson of the "Children Are Our Messengers" Initiative sponsored that organization and Director of Cohort Follow-up for the Dallas Heart Study, funded by the Donald Reynolds Foundation.  Dr. Nesbitt is a Fellow of the American Heart Association and the Council for High Blood Pressure Research. She serves as an Advisory Panel member for the Red Dress Campaign sponsored by the National Institutes of Health.

RECENT NEWSMAKER

Study finds incidence of hypertension reduced with early intervention

RESEARCH PROJECTS

Trial of Preventing Hypertension (TROPHY) Study

Primary Investigator: Stevo Julius, MD
National Study Coordinator: Shawna D. Nesbitt, MD, MS
Sponsor: AstraZeneca Pharmaceutical Inc.

This project is a prospective randomized placebo-controlled trial of monotherapy with an angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) in 809 subjects with high-normal blood pressure at 71 U.S. sites.

Dallas Heart Study: A Random Population Sample for Preventing ASHD (Project I)

Cohort Follow-up Coordinator, Project 1: Shawna D. Nesbitt, MD, MS
Sponsor: Donald W. Reynolds Foundation

Project 1:  To demonstrate that an academic medical center with its surrounding community, can be transformed into a powerful partnership for transitional research leading to the prevention of atherosclerotic heart disease.

IMPACT Study

Principal Investigator: Shawna D. Nesbitt MD, MS
Sponsor:  Investigator Initiated Proposal funded by Pfizer Pharmaceuticals

This is a prospective randomized, open label study designed to evaluate the effect of combination once daily therapy for hypertension and lipids with home blood pressure assessment on the control of hypertension in a clinic population of indigent, complicated hypertensive patients.  This study will enroll patients from Parkland Hospital to a protocol which includes the use of home and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring to improve blood pressure control.