Dr. Hongmei Zhang, Bruns Endowed Professor of Biostatistics and Director of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Environmental Health in the School of Public Health, is collaborating with Dr. Indranill Basu-Ray, a cardiologist, and Interventional Cardiac Electrophysiologist at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and an affiliated Professor at the School of Public Health, University of Memphis, on critical projects in cardiovascular disease prevention and treatment.

Cardiovascular Disease is the largest killer on the planet. Over 877,500 Americans die of CVD—one-third of all deaths annually. These diseases also take an economic toll, costing our healthcare system $216 billion annually and causing $147 billion in lost productivity. In 2017, the estimated cost of diagnosed diabetes was $327 billion in medical expenses and lost productivity. The principal mechanism of death in Diabetes is CVD. One of every six dollars spent on health care costs is for CVD. Despite massive developments in technology using newer devices, interventional procedures, and drugs, the disease prevalence has not shown much of a decrease. This calls for out-of-the-box thinking, including initiating lifestyle changes as a public health policy to counter this epidemic. Yoga is the most popular form of integrative medicine used worldwide. While yoga is known to bring about drastic lifestyle changes, it also initiates processes in the body that reduce vascular inflammation, the root cause of CVD.