VA Palo Alto’s Phil Tsao receives highest AHA Award

The Merit Award supports highly promising, novel research that quickly moves cardiovascular science forward for a high impact. Over the next 5 years, Tsao will receive a total of $1 million in funding from the AHA to study how vaping impacts the development of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA), which is a weakening of the major artery in the abdominal area.

“Nearly 90% of people with an abdominal aortic aneurysm have a history of tobacco use. In fact, AAA disease is more closely associated with cigarette smoking than any other tobacco-related disease except lung cancer. However, to date, there have been very few studies to explain the relationship between smoking and AAA disease,” Tsao said. “We know even less about the effects of vaping on the development of an AAA. Yet, given how popular vaping is, especially with young adults, understanding the effects on AAA disease is very important.”

Pressure within the artery will cause an AAA bubble to continue to grow until it ruptures and can often result in death. While some genes have been associated with the risk of developing AAA disease, none have been thought to cause an AAA alone. It is likely that a person’s lifestyle acts together with genes to drive AAA disease.

Tsao holds several important titles including Director of the VA Palo Alto Epidemiology Research and Information Center for Genomics, Co-Principal Investigator of the VA Million Veteran Program, and he is also a Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine.

“We are proud to see Dr. Tsao’s work recognized at such a high level and anticipate his results will make a great impact to the field,” said VA Palo Alto Executive Medical Center Director Jean J. Gurga.

Steffany Lingad, Public Affairs Specialist

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