Christopher J. O’Donnell MD
Adjunct Associate Professor, Cardiovascular Medicine
72 E. Concord Street | (857) 203-5673christopher.odonnell@va.gov
Sections
Cardiovascular Medicine
Biography
Dr. O’Donnell research is broadly focused on the epidemiology of complex cardiovascular disease (CVD), the leading cause of death and disability in men and women. More specifically, Dr. O’Donnell has focused on the genetic and genomic epidemiology of clinical and subclinical forms of atherosclerosis, ventricular hypertrophy and thrombosis. A large genome-wide association study is being directed by Dr. O’Donnell in a large, well-phenotyped prospective study of multigenerational families drawn from a general population (the NHLBI’s Framingham Heart Study SHARe Project). Heritable clinical and intermediate CVD phenotypes of interest include premature onset CVD, circulating biomarkers (e.g., hemostasis and thrombosis factors) and subclinical atherosclerosis detected by high resolution cardiovascular imaging (e.g., coronary artery calcium by cardiac computed tomography and aortic plaque detected by cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging). Using both genome-wide linkage and newer association methods, Dr. O’Donnell’s group has identified a number of single nucleotide polymorphisms and haplotypes with evidence for causal associations with atherosclerosis, hypertrophy and thrombosis. The long-term goal for this marriage of genomic science with well-designed studies of human populations is to better understand the etiology of CVD and to discover new targets for preventing, pre-empting and treating CVD.
Websites
Education
Medicine-Internal, MD, Harvard Medical School
Publications
Dimmeler S, Ferri L, Nioi P, O'Donnell CJ, Damy T, Gómez-Outes A, Giacca M, Guo W, Kavousi M, Kupatt C, Landmesser U, Schunkert H, Zouridakis E, Elliott PM. Translation of genomics into routine cardiological practice: insights from a European Society of Cardiology Cardiovascular Round Table. Eur Heart J. 2025 Apr 15; 46(15):1384-1393. PMID: 39969133.
Published on 4/14/2025Meena D, Huang J, Zare M, Hasbani NR, Romuald BP, Mustafa R, van der Laan SW, Xu H, Terry JG, Bis JC, Jain D, Palmer ND, Heard-Costa N, Min YI, Guo X, Yao J, Taylor KD, Tan J, Peralta J, Pereira AC, Khan A, Choudhury A, Newman AB, Xiang AH, Hingorani A, Freedman BI, O'Donnell CJ, Giambartolomei C, Herrington DM, Jacobs DR, Klarin D, Wang FF, Heiss G, Doddapaneni H, Hodis HN, Broome J, Wilson JG, Brandenburg JT, Blangero J, Krieger JE, Smith JD, Viaud-Martinez KA, Ryan KA, Lange LA, Montasser ME, Mahaney MC, Mokry M, Fornage M, Munroe P, Gibbs RA, Tracy RP, Kim RW, Damrauer SM, Rich SS, Hsueh WA, Chen YI, Morrison AC, Mitchell BD, Carr JJ, Psaty BM, Bowden DW, Vasan RS, Correa A, Post WS, Goodarzi MO, Raffel LJ, Curran JE, Ramsay M, Rotter JI, Elliott P, Franceschini N, de Vries PS, Tzoulaki I, Dehghan A. Genome-wide association study and multi-ancestry meta-analysis identify common variants associated with carotid artery intima-media thickness. medRxiv. 2025 Apr 14. PMID: 40321265.
Published on 4/11/2025Zhang X, Brody JA, Graff M, Highland HM, Chami N, Xu H, Wang Z, Ferrier KR, Chittoor G, Josyula NS, Meyer M, Gupta S, Li X, Li Z, Allison MA, Becker DM, Bielak LF, Bis JC, Boorgula MP, Bowden DW, Broome JG, Buth EJ, Carlson CS, Chang KM, Chavan S, Chiu YF, Chuang LM, Conomos MP, DeMeo DL, Du M, Duggirala R, Eng C, Fohner AE, Freedman BI, Garrett ME, Guo X, Haiman C, Heavner BD, Hidalgo B, Hixson JE, Ho YL, Hobbs BD, Hu D, Hui Q, Hwu CM, Jackson RD, Jain D, Kalyani RR, Kardia SLR, Kelly TN, Lange EM, LeNoir M, Li C, Le Marchand L, McDonald MN, McHugh CP, Morrison AC, Naseri T, O'Connell J, O'Donnell CJ, Palmer ND, Pankow JS, Perry JA, Peters U, Preuss MH, Rao DC, Regan EA, Reupena SM, Roden DM, Rodriguez-Santana J, Sitlani CM, Smith JA, Tiwari HK, Vasan RS, Wang Z, Weeks DE, Wessel J, Wiggins KL, Wilkens LR, Wilson PWF, Yanek LR, Yoneda ZT, Zhao W, Zöllner S, Arnett DK, Ashley-Koch AE, Barnes KC, Blangero J, Boerwinkle E, Burchard EG, Carson AP, Chasman DI, Ida Chen YD, Curran JE, Fornage M, Gordeuk VR, He J, Heckbert SR, Hou L, Irvin MR, Kooperberg C, Minster RL, Mitchell BD, Nouraie M, Psaty BM, Raffield LM, Reiner AP, Rich SS, Rotter JI, Benjamin Shoemaker M, Smith NL, Taylor KD, Telen MJ, Weiss ST, Zhang Y, Heard-Costa N, Sun YV, Lin X, Cupples LA, Lange LA, Liu CT, Loos RJF, North KE, Justice AE. Whole genome sequencing analysis of body mass index identifies novel African ancestry-specific risk allele. Nat Commun. 2025 Apr 11; 16(1):3470. PMID: 40216759.
Published on 2/18/2025Smith WB, Nguyen D, Clough T, Schofield J, Kagan MR, Kompa J, He Y, Maratos-Flier E, Jamontt J, Vong L, Schwartzkopf CD, Layne JD, Usera AR, O'Donnell CJ, Heldwein KA, Streeper RS, Goldfine AB. A Growth Differentiation Factor 15 Receptor Agonist in Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trials in Healthy or Obese Persons. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2025 Feb 18; 110(3):771-786. PMID: 39148430.
Published on 12/4/2024Yu YH, Pridgen KM, Nelson TJ, Miller DR, Wells JM, Assimes TL, O'Donnell CJ, Tsao PS, Chang KM, Lynch JA. Oral Health, Inflammation, and Cardiometabolic Factors in the VA Million Veteran Program. JDR Clin Trans Res. 2024 Dec 04; 23800844241291780. PMID: 39629945.
Published on 7/19/2024Verma A, Huffman JE, Rodriguez A, Conery M, Liu M, Ho YL, Kim Y, Heise DA, Guare L, Panickan VA, Garcon H, Linares F, Costa L, Goethert I, Tipton R, Honerlaw J, Davies L, Whitbourne S, Cohen J, Posner DC, Sangar R, Murray M, Wang X, Dochtermann DR, Devineni P, Shi Y, Nandi TN, Assimes TL, Brunette CA, Carroll RJ, Clifford R, Duvall S, Gelernter J, Hung A, Iyengar SK, Joseph J, Kember R, Kranzler H, Kripke CM, Levey D, Luoh SW, Merritt VC, Overstreet C, Deak JD, Grant SFA, Polimanti R, Roussos P, Shakt G, Sun YV, Tsao N, Venkatesh S, Voloudakis G, Justice A, Begoli E, Ramoni R, Tourassi G, Pyarajan S, Tsao P, O'Donnell CJ, Muralidhar S, Moser J, Casas JP, Bick AG, Zhou W, Cai T, Voight BF, Cho K, Gaziano JM, Madduri RK, Damrauer S, Liao KP. Diversity and scale: Genetic architecture of 2068 traits in the VA Million Veteran Program. Science. 2024 Jul 19; 385(6706):eadj1182. PMID: 39024449.
Published on 6/21/2024Patel-Murray NL, Zhang L, Claggett BL, Xu D, Serrano-Fernandez P, Healey M, Wandel S, Chen CW, Jacob J, Xu H, Turner GM, Chutkow W, Yates DP, O'Donnell CJ, Prescott MF, Lefkowitz M, Gimpelewicz CR, Beste MT, Zhao F, Gou L, Desai AS, Jhund PS, Packer M, Pfeffer MA, Redfield MM, Rouleau JL, Zannad F, Zile MR, McMurray JJV, Mendelson MM, Solomon SD, Cunningham JW. Aptamer Proteomics for Biomarker Discovery in Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction: The PARAGON-HF Proteomic Substudy. J Am Heart Assoc. 2024 Jul 02; 13(13):e033544. PMID: 38904251.
Published on 4/30/2024Keaton JM, Kamali Z, Xie T, Vaez A, Williams A, Goleva SB, Ani A, Evangelou E, Hellwege JN, Yengo L, Young WJ, Traylor M, Giri A, Zheng Z, Zeng J, Chasman DI, Morris AP, Caulfield MJ, Hwang SJ, Kooner JS, Conen D, Attia JR, Morrison AC, Loos RJF, Kristiansson K, Schmidt R, Hicks AA, Pramstaller PP, Nelson CP, Samani NJ, Risch L, Gyllensten U, Melander O, Riese H, Wilson JF, Campbell H, Rich SS, Psaty BM, Lu Y, Rotter JI, Guo X, Rice KM, Vollenweider P, Sundström J, Langenberg C, Tobin MD, Giedraitis V, Luan J, Tuomilehto J, Kutalik Z, Ripatti S, Salomaa V, Girotto G, Trompet S, Jukema JW, van der Harst P, Ridker PM, Giulianini F, Vitart V, Goel A, Watkins H, Harris SE, Deary IJ, van der Most PJ, Oldehinkel AJ, Keavney BD, Hayward C, Campbell A, Boehnke M, Scott LJ, Boutin T, Mamasoula C, Järvelin MR, Peters A, Gieger C, Lakatta EG, Cucca F, Hui J, Knekt P, Enroth S, De Borst MH, Polašek O, Concas MP, Catamo E, Cocca M, Li-Gao R, Hofer E, Schmidt H, Spedicati B, Waldenberger M, Strachan DP, Laan M, Teumer A, Dörr M, Gudnason V, Cook JP, Ruggiero D, Kolcic I, Boerwinkle E, Traglia M, Lehtimäki T, Raitakari OT, Johnson AD, Newton-Cheh C, Brown MJ, Dominiczak AF, Sever PJ, Poulter N, Chambers JC, Elosua R, Siscovick D, Esko T, Metspalu A, Strawbridge RJ, Laakso M, Hamsten A, Hottenga JJ, de Geus E, Morris AD, Palmer CNA, Nolte IM, Milaneschi Y, Marten J, Wright A, Zeggini E, Howson JMM, O'Donnell CJ, Spector T, Nalls MA, Simonsick EM, Liu Y, van Duijn CM, Butterworth AS, Danesh JN, Menni C, Wareham NJ, Khaw KT, Sun YV, Wilson PWF, Cho K, Visscher PM, Denny JC, Levy D, Edwards TL, Munroe PB, Snieder H, Warren HR. Genome-wide analysis in over 1 million individuals of European ancestry yields improved polygenic risk scores for blood pressure traits. Nat Genet. 2024 May; 56(5):778-791. PMID: 38689001.
Published on 4/1/2024Small AM, Melloni GEM, Kamanu FK, Bergmark BA, Bonaca MP, O'Donoghue ML, Giugliano RP, Scirica BM, Bhatt D, Antman EM, Raz I, Wiviott SD, Truong B, Wilson PWF, Cho K, O'Donnell CJ, Braunwald E, Lubitz SA, Ellinor P, Peloso GM, Ruff CT, Sabatine MS, Natarajan P, Marston NA. Novel Polygenic Risk Score and Established Clinical Risk Factors for Risk Estimation of Aortic Stenosis. JAMA Cardiol. 2024 Apr 01; 9(4):357-366. PMID: 38416462.
Published on 12/4/2023de Vries PS, Conomos MP, Singh K, Nicholson CJ, Jain D, Hasbani NR, Jiang W, Lee S, Lino Cardenas CL, Lutz SM, Wong D, Guo X, Yao J, Young EP, Tcheandjieu C, Hilliard AT, Bis JC, Bielak LF, Brown MR, Musharoff S, Clarke SL, Terry JG, Palmer ND, Yanek LR, Xu H, Heard-Costa N, Wessel J, Selvaraj MS, Li RH, Sun X, Turner AW, Stilp AM, Khan A, Newman AB, Rasheed A, Freedman BI, Kral BG, McHugh CP, Hodonsky C, Saleheen D, Herrington DM, Jacobs DR, Nickerson DA, Boerwinkle E, Wang FF, Heiss G, Jun G, Kinney GL, Sigurslid HH, Doddapaneni H, Hall IM, Bensenor IM, Broome J, Crapo JD, Wilson JG, Smith JA, Blangero J, Vargas JD, Mosquera JV, Smith JD, Viaud-Martinez KA, Ryan KA, Young KA, Taylor KD, Lange LA, Emery LS, Bittencourt MS, Budoff MJ, Montasser ME, Yu M, Mahaney MC, Mahamdeh MS, Fornage M, Franceschini N, Lotufo PA, Natarajan P, Wong Q, Mathias RA, Gibbs RA, Do R, Mehran R, Tracy RP, Kim RW, Nelson SC, Damrauer SM, Kardia SLR, Rich SS, Fuster V, Napolioni V, Zhao W, Tian W, Yin X, Min YI, Manning AK, Peloso G, Kelly TN, O'Donnell CJ, Morrison AC, Curran JE, Zapol WM, Bowden DW, Becker LC, Correa A, Mitchell BD, Psaty BM, Carr JJ, Pereira AC, Assimes TL, Stitziel NO, Hokanson JE, Laurie CA, Rotter JI, Vasan RS, Post WS, Peyser PA, Miller CL, Malhotra R. Whole-genome sequencing uncovers two loci for coronary artery calcification and identifies ARSE as a regulator of vascular calcification. Nat Cardiovasc Res. 2023 Dec; 2(12):1159-1172. PMID: 38817323.