EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Senior Research Fellow, Metabolism, Endocrinology, Nutrition, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 1988–1989.

Senior Cardiology Fellow, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 1989–1992.

B.S. (Summa Cum Laude), University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, 1980.

M.D. (with Honor in Medicine and Thesis Honors), University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 1984.

Medical Student Research Fellow, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, 1981.

Chief Medical Resident, Veterans' Affairs Medical Center, Seattle, WA, 1987–1988.

Internship and Residency, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 1984–1987.

Kevin D. O'Brien M.D., F.A.H.A.
Professor of Medicine
Attending Physician, University of Washington Medical Center

BOARD CERTIFICATION

American Board of Internal Medicine, 1987

ABIM, Cardiovascular Diseases, 1991, 2002

AREAS OF CLINICAL EXPERTISE

Congestive heart failure and cardiac transplantation; lipid disorders

CURRENT RESEARCH INTERESTS

Roles of lipids and diabetes in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and aortic stenosis

SPECIAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Phi Beta Kappa, Buchanan Award (Perfect Undergraduate G.P.A.), Theophilus Award (The University's Most Outstanding Graduate), University of Idaho, 1980

Robert L. Van Citters Medical Thesis Award, University of Washington, 1982

Sheard-Sanford Award, American Society of Clinical Pathologists, 1983

President, American Federation for Medical Research, 2001–2002

Outstanding Investigator, Western Society for Clinical Investigation, 2003

President-Elect, Western Society for Clinical Investigation, 2006–2007

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Shavelle DM, Takasu J, Budoff MJ, Mao SS, Zhao X-Q, O'Brien KD: HMG CoA reductase inhibitor (statin) and aortic valve calcium, Lancet 359:1125–1126, 2002.

O'Brien KD, Shavelle DM, Caulfield MT, McDonald TO, Olin-Lewis K, Otto CM, Probstfield JL: Association of angiotensin converting enzyme with low density lipoprotein in aortic valvular lesions and in human plasma, Circulation 106:2224–2230, 2002.

O'Brien KD, Vuletic S, McDonald TO, Wolfbauer G, Lewis K, Marcovina S, Wight TN, Chait A, Albers JJ: Cell-associated and extracellular phospholipid transfer protein (PLTP) in human coronary atherosclerosis, Circulation 108:270–274, 2003.

Olin-Lewis K, Kirk EA, McDonald TO, Wight TN, O'Brien KD, Chait A: Increase in serum amyloid A evoked by dietary cholesterol is associated with increased atherosclerosis in mice, Circulation 110:540–545, 2004.

Bergt C, Pennathur S, Fu X, Byun J, Singh P, O'Brien K, McDonald TO, Chait A, Brunzell J, Geary RL, Oram JF, Heinecke JW. The myelopeoxidase product hypochlorous acid oxidizes HDL in the human artery wall and impairs ABCA1-dependent cholesterol transport, Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci. USA 101(35):13032–13037, 2004.

Wu AH, Ballantyne CM, Short BC, Torre-Amione G, Young JB, Ventura HO, Eisen HJ, Radovancevic B, Rayburn BK, Lake KD, Yancy CW, Taylor DO, Mehra MR, Kubo SH, Fishbein DP, Zhao X-Q, O'Brien KD: Statin use and risks of death or fatal rejection in the Heart Transplant Lipid Registry, Am. J. Cardiol. 95(3):367–372, 2005.

O'Brien KD, Brehm BJ, Seeley RJ, Bean J, Wener MH, Daniels S, D'Alessio DA: Diet-induced weight loss is associated with decreases in plasma serum amyloid A and C-reactive protein independent of dietary macronutrient composition in obese subjects, J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 90:2244–2249, 2005.

O'Brien KD, McDonald TO, Kunjathoor V, Knopp EA, Lewis K, Lopez R, Chait A, Wight TN, deBeer FC, LeBoeuf RC: Serum amyloid A and lipoprotein retention in murine models of atherosclerosis, Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol. 25:785–790, 2005.

O'Brien KD, Probstfield JL, Caulfield MT, Nasir K, Shavelle DM, Takasu J, Wu AH, Zhao X-Q, Budoff MJ: Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and change in aortic valve calcium, Arch. Intern. Med. 165:858–862, 2005.

Tannock LR, O'Brien KD, Knopp RH, Retzlaff B, Fish B, Wener MH, Kahn SE, Chait A. Cholesterol feeding increases CRP and SAA levels in lean, insulin sensitive subjects, Circulation 111:3058–3062, 2005.

Katz R, Wong ND, Kronmal R, Takasu J, Shavelle DM, Probstfield, JL, Budoff MJ, O'Brien KD: Features of the metabolic syndrome and diabetes mellitus as predictors of aortic valve calcification in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, Circulation 113:2113–2119, 2006.

O'Brien KD: The pathogenesis of calcific aortic valve disease: A disease process comes of age (and a good deal more), Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol. 26(8):1721–1728, 2006.