Current Research and Scholarly Interests
Dr. Fortmann has moved to the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Oregon (<http://www.kpchr.org/>). He remains active in the following studies based at Stanford and the Palo Alto Medical Foundation Research Institute.
R01 HL126172 (Waitzfelder, Beth, PhD)07/15 - 06/191.20CM (10%)
Cardiovascular Disease Among Asians and Pacific Islanders (CASPER)
This project will determine the prevalence and incidence of cardiovascular diseases among Asian and Pacific Islander subpopulations and will study the underlying causes of differences in CVD prevalence among these groups. This study is a collaboration of Center for Health Research–Northwest (CHR) (Dr. Fortmann), CHR–Hawaii (Dr. Waitzfelder), Stanford Medical School (Dr. Latha Palaniappan), and the Palo Alto Medical Foundation Research Institute (PAMFRI) (Dr. Sukyung Chung).
Role: Multiple Principal Investigator and Site Principal Investigator
R01 CA67850 (Henriksen, Lisa, PhD) 07/15 – 06/201.20 CM (10%)
Impact of Retail Tobacco Advertising on Youth Smoking (STORE)
This research will continue studies of retail marketing on youth tobacco use. In this renewal (the fourth) we propose to study small cigar, cigarillo, and electronic cigarette use among 25,000 California adolescents in 140 schools participating in the California Student Tobacco Survey in 2015-16 and 2017-18. We will simultaneously survey marketing of these products in 500 stores within a half mile of schools. The purpose of the study is to inform tobacco control policy concerning these newly-ascendant products.
Role: Co-Investigator
Since moving to CHR in 2010, Dr. Fortmann has continued his research on population health and prevention. He is principal investigator on a study to see if increased access to public transit—in this case a new light rail line in Portland—benefits health or reduces health care costs, presumably through increased physical activity. He is Site Principal Investigator for GRADE, a comparative effectiveness study of second-line medications for diabetes in patients who are not controlled on metformin alone. He is also a co-investigator on a study of diabetes disparities in Asian and Pacific Islander populations in Hawaii. Dr. Fortmann is copleting a pilot study comparing the effectiveness of two standard diuretic drugs for treating high blood pressure.