Herman Taylor

• MD, MPH
• Director at Morehouse School of Medicine

Background The National Kidney Foundation and American Society of Nephrology Task Force on Reassessing the Inclusion of Race in Diagnosing Kidney Disease recently recommended a new race-free creatinine-based equation for eGFR. The effect on recommended clinical care across race and ethnicity groups is unknown. Methods We analyzed nationally repres...

Introduction: Resilience—which we define as the “ability to bounce back from stress”—can foster successful aging among older, racially and ethnically diverse women. This study investigated the association between psychological resilience in the Women’s Health Initiative Extension Study (WHI-ES) and three constructs defined by Staudinger’s 2015 mode...

Importance: Increased risk of neurological and psychiatric conditions after traumatic brain injury (TBI) is well-defined. However, cardiovascular and endocrine comorbidity risk after TBI in individuals without these comorbidities and associations with post-TBI mortality have received little attention. Objective: To assess the incidence of cardio...

Importance: Childhood adversities, including neglect, abuse, and other indicators of family dysfunction, are associated in adulthood with risk factors for poor cognitive and mental health. However, the extent to which these experiences are associated with adulthood cognition-related quality of life and risk for dementia is unknown. Objective: To...

A diagnosis of SCD is considered to be at risk for COVD19. To further define the association between SCD and infection with COVID-19, we estimated risk, by comparing presence or absence of COVID19 infections in individuals with and without SCD admitted concurrently to a large urban health care facility (Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta, GA; 960 bed...

Background Early trauma (general, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse before age 18 years) has been associated with both cardiovascular disease risk and lifestyle-related risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including smoking, obesity, and physical inactivity. Despite higher prevalence, the association between early trauma and cardiovascular...

Objective: To simultaneously examine multiple individual-level neighbourhood perceptions and psychosocial characteristics and their relationships with cardiovascular health (CVH) among blacks. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Subjects were recruited between 2016 and 2018 via convenience sampling. Participants: 385 Black men and women,...

Introduction: Perceived and actual access to healthy foods may differ in urban areas, particularly among Black people. We assessed the effect of objective and perceived neighborhood food access on self-reported cardiovascular disease (CVD) among Black people living in areas of high risk and low risk for the disease in Atlanta, Georgia. We hypothes...

Introduction Former American style football players (ASF players) have recognized health concerns associated with prior sport participation. It remains unknown whether categorizations of current health conditions, referred in this report as afflictions (conceptually framed as neurocognitive, cardiovascular, cardiometabolic, sleep apnea, and chronic...

While chronic neurological effects from concussion have been widely studied, little is known about possible links between concussion and long-term medical and behavioral comorbidities. We performed a retrospective cohort study of 9,205 adult concussion patients, matched to non-concussion controls from a hospital-based electronic medical registry. P...

Over the past year, medical centers across the US have removed race adjustment from estimated glomerular filtration rate from serum creatinine (eGFRcr), with many now reporting the “White/other” value for all patients. These changes follow calls to reconsider the use of race in estimating kidney function¹ and in medicine broadly.² We analyzed poten...

Little is known about the relationship between self-reported psychological resilience (resilience) and health behaviors shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). This study examines the associations between resilience and CVD-related risk factors, such as diet, smoking, physical activity, sleep, and alcohol consumption among older A...

Introduction: Recent attention to consequences of head trauma among former professional American-style football players has increased the likelihood that former players and their healthcare providers attribute neurocognitive effects to these exposures. However, in addition to head trauma, many potentially modifiable risk factors are associated wit...

Purpose Race differences in health are pervasive in the United States. American-style football players are a racially diverse group with social status and other benefits that may reduce health disparities. Whether race disparities in health exist among former professional football players, and whether they differ by era of play, is unknown. Method...

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM), T xTM is a scientific philosophy promoting interdisciplinary approaches towards exponential advances in community and population health. Objectives are to detail the model, pilot funding mechanism, early research findings and infrastructure investments. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: The health resea...

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death among American Indians and Alaska Natives. Over the past 50 years, the prevalence of CVD has been rising among American Indians and Alaska Natives. The objective of this statement is to summarize population-level risk factors and management techniques tailored for the American...

Background: Hereditary transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis (hATTR amyloidosis) is a multisystem disease that presents with polyneuropathy and/or cardiomyopathy. Methods: DISCOVERY, a multicenter screening study, enrolled patients with clinically suspected cardiac amyloidosis to determine the frequency of transthyretin (TTR) mutations and assess dise...

Objective American‐style football (ASF) has gained attention because of possible links between repetitive head injury and neurodegenerative diseases. While post‐mortem pathologic changes consistent with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) have been reported in ASF players, there are currently no established pre‐mortem diagnostic criteria for CTE...

Clinical practice strongly relies on patients' self-report. Former professional American-style football players are hesitant to seek help for mental health problems but may be more willing to report cognitive symptoms. We sought to assess the association between cognitive symptoms and diagnosed mental health problems and quality of life among a coh...

Background Former American football players have a higher prevalence of cognitive impairment than that of the US general population. It remains unknown what aspects of playing football are associated with neuropsychiatric outcomes. Hypothesis It was hypothesized that seasons of professional football, playing position, and experience of concussions...

Importance Small studies suggest that head trauma in men may be associated with low testosterone levels and sexual dysfunction through mechanisms that likely include hypopituitarism secondary to ischemic injury and pituitary axonal tract damage. Athletes in contact sports may be at risk for pituitary insufficiencies or erectile dysfunction (ED) bec...

The Football Players Health Study at Harvard University (FPHS) is a unique transdisciplinary, strategic initiative addressing the challenges of former players’ health after having participated in American style football (ASF). The whole player focused FPHS is designed to deepen understanding of the benefits and risks of participation in ASF, identi...

This research examines the roles of health literacy, health numeracy, and trust in doctor on: 1) patient anxiety when consulting a doctor; 2) frequency of physician consultations; and 3) patient subjective well‐being (SWB). Our sample consisted of 4,040 adults representative of the U.S. in terms of age, income, and education, but equally split amon...

Importance Studies of American-style football players have suggested lower overall mortality rates compared with general populations, but with possibly increased neurodegenerative mortality. However, comparisons with general populations can introduce bias. This study compared mortality between US National Football League (NFL) and US Major League B...

Background The long‐term health consequences of participation in American style football (ASF) are not well understood. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study of men who had played in the NFL after 1960. Participants were studied using a standardized self‐administered questionnaire designed to determine both the exposure history to ASF...

Background: Among African Americans (AAs), attaining higher levels of American Heart Association (AHA) ideal cardiovascular health (Life's Simple 7 [LS7]) is associated with lower risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD). We previously showed that aldosterone is associated with higher risk of diabetes and CVD in AAs. Thus, we investigated...

Introduction: Arterial stiffness is associated with cardiovascular (CV) risk factors and adverse cardiovascular events. While inter-racial differences in arterial stiffness have been reported, factors contributing to intra-racial differences within Blacks are less known. We examined whether neighborhood characteristics and personal resilience facto...

Introduction: Intra-racial heterogeneity in cardiovascular health (CVH) among Blacks is understudied, and more research is needed to identify factors promoting CVH among Blacks. Neighborhood environment is increasingly recognized as an important determinant of CV risk and health, Yet whether specific features of neighborhood physical and social env...

Ischemic heart disease (IHD) is caused by the narrowing of arteries that work to provide blood, nutrients, and oxygen to the myocardial tissue. The worldwide epidemic of IHD urgently requires innovative treatments despite the significant advances in medical, interventional, and surgical therapies for this disease. Angiogenesis is a physiological an...

Studies of professional American football players have shown that football-related activities lead to acute injuries and may have long-term adverse health outcomes including osteoarthritis, neurocognitive impairment, and cardiovascular disease. However, the full complement of what constitutes professional football exposure has yet to be effectively...

A holistic view of racial and gender disparities that simultaneously compares multiple groups can suggest associated underlying contextual factors. Therefore, to more comprehensively understand temporal changes in combined racial and gender disparities, we examine variations in the orders of county-level race-gender specific heart disease death rat...

Historical events and the illumination of unequal treatment of cardiovascular and other diseases among African Americans and their white counterparts have suppressed African Americans’ participation in research. Approaches that bring scientific professionals into actual partnership with affected communities show promise for overcoming this reluctan...

Aim: To examine the association of psychosocial resources with prevalent type 2 diabetes (T2D) in 5104 African American men and women. Methods: Using data from the Jackson Heart Study (JHS), we evaluated the cross-sectional associations of four psychosocial resources (social support, optimism, religiosity, and social networks) with T2D [fasting...

We have enrolled a cohort of former National Football League players (n = 3,506) who played since 1960 to assess potential long term health consequences associated with participating in the sport. Each participant has completed a self-administered questionnaire including reporting of physician-diagnosed health conditions. One of the early assessmen...

Introduction: African Americans (AAs) have among the highest prevalence of type 2 diabetes in the U.S. Research has shown that positive affect and supportive networks are associated with better health outcomes and may improve regulation of physiological processes. We examined the extent to which psychosocial resources were protective of diabetes ou...

Background: African Americans have a higher burden of atherosclerotic risk factors and higher rates of incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) compared to other race/ethnic groups in the US. However, studies have demonstrated a high prevalence of a coronary artery calcium (CAC) score of 0 in this population. We hypothesize that carotid intima-media t...

Purpose: To examine the association between residence in neighborhoods with high rates of incarceration and cardiometabolic disease among nonincarcerated individuals. Methods: We used data from two community cohort studies (n = 1368) in Atlanta, Georgia-META-Health and Predictive Health (2005-2012)-to assess the association between neighborhood...

Background: Although discrimination among African Americans (AAs) has been linked to various health outcomes, few studies have examined associations of multiple measures of discrimination with prevalent subclinical disease in a large sample of AAs. Objectives: To examine the associations of measures of discrimination and coping responses to disc...

Background and purpose: Population-wide reductions in cardiovascular disease incidence and mortality have not been shared equally by African Americans. The burden of cardiovascular disease in the African American community remains high and is a primary cause of disparities in life expectancy between African Americans and whites. The objectives of...

Background: Food deserts (FD), neighborhoods defined as low-income areas with low access to healthy food, are a public health concern. We evaluated the impact of living in FD on cardiovascular risk factors and subclinical cardiovascular disease (CVD) with the hypothesis that people living in FD will have an unfavorable CVD risk profile. We further...

High blood pressure (BP) is one of the most potent and common risk factors for the development of heart disease and stroke.¹ While no subpopulation in the United States holds a monopoly on the disorder, the risk of being hypertensive—and experiencing its consequences—falls disproportionately on some groups, namely men and African Americans. When do...

The MECA study is unique in that it will study CVD resilience in blacks at both the individual and community (census tract) level in the Atlanta Metropolitan Area. It is well established that blacks suffer from greater cardiovascular morbidity and mortality than whites in the United States. Not all blacks suffer from poor cardiovascular health, som...

Objectives This study sought to assess whether body mass index (BMI) was associated with subclinical left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction in African-American individuals. Background Higher BMI is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, including heart failure. Obesity disproportionately affects African Americans; however, the association b...

OBJECTIVE Controlling cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in diabetes mellitus (DM) reduces the number of CVD events, but the effects of multifactorial risk factor control are not well quantified. We examined whether being at targets for blood pressure (BP), LDL cholesterol (LDL-C), and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) together are associated with...

Novel approaches to observational studies and clinical trials could improve the cost-effectiveness and speed of translation of research. Hybrid designs that combine elements of clinical trials with observational registries or cohort studies should be considered as part of a long-term strategy to transform clinical trials and epidemiology, adapting...

Background The GIANT consortium identified 14 loci in European Ancestry (EA) individuals associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI (WHR). These loci are wide and narrowing the signals remains necessary.ResultsTwelve of 14 loci identified in GIANT EA samples retained strong associations with WHR in our joint EA/AA analysis (log-Bayes facto...

Introduction: African Americans (AA) have a higher risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) than Whites. This disparity has been attributed to risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, and obesity. This disparity has also been attributed to psychosocial factors across groups. Using Jackson Heart Study (JHS) data, we examined the associations of neg...

Background: While the prevalence of cardiovascular health metrics or Life’s Simple Seven (LSS) has been shown to be far from optimal in the US, such information has been predominantly reported in Caucasians. The burden of cardiovascular disease among African Americans underscores the need to evaluate the prevalence and secular trends of LSS in othe...

Contextual Characteristics: Defining Neighborhood Socioeconomic Disadvantage in Jackson Heart Study Neighborhoods. Figures represent ecological associations at the neighborhood (census tract) level. Kruskal-Wallis statistic used to test for non-parametric associations between categorical neighborhood disadvantage and continuous measures of related...

Introduction and objectives. Measures of adiposity such as waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) are associated with adverse cardiovascular events and diabetes independent of body mass index (BMI). WC and WHR have high heritability and multiple susceptibility loci have been identified across the genome, including GRB14 , LYPAL1 , an...

Objectives. Prior research has reported an association between perceived discrimination and health outcomes among African Americans, and there is growing interest in the pathways in which it gets ‘under the skin.’ One such pathway may be through the association with behavioral risk factors. Using Jackson Heart Study data, we examined whether percei...

PURPOSE: Pericardial fat has been shown to have local effects on neighboring anatomic structures. We recently demonstrated that pericardial fat was associated with a restrictive lung pattern, independent of C reactive protein (CRP) and abdominal visceral fat (VAT) (Hickson, 2011). Given the close proximity to the pulmonary vasculature, pericardial...

Objective: The seminal paper on cerebellar cognitive affective syndrome by Schmahmann and Sherman (1998), and subsequent studies, has expanded our understanding of the role of the cerebellum beyond motor functioning to psychological and cognitive functioning. However, many of these studies have examined patients between 1 week and 5 years post-inju...

Whether microvascular disease contributes to the development of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is unclear. We examined the relationship of retinal microvascular signs with LVH in an African-American population. A population-based, cross-sectional study of 1,439 middle-aged African-American participants in Jackson, Mississippi. A retinal photogr...

Immediate reperfusion therapy to restore coronary blood flow is recommended for all eligible patients with acute myocardial infarction. However, reperfusion therapy is reportedly underutilized among African Americans, even when they are eligible. Reasons for the lack of use have not been fully explored. We examined the demographic, clinical, and tr...

Physical activity is regarded as an essential component of a healthy lifestyle. The beneficial impact of regular physical activity on various diseases and physical and mental conditions varies widely. Evidence links regular physical activity to reducing the risk of all-cause mortality primarily due to lowered rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD) (...

Lower rates of invasive cardiac procedures have been reported for blacks and women than for white men. However, few studies have adjusted for differences in the type of hospital of admission, insurance status, and disease severity. SETTING, DESIGN, AND PARTICIPANTS: Data from the National Hospital Discharge Survey were used to investigate race and...