Fatima Rodriguez

The Health Equity Advancement through Research and Technology (HEART) Lab, led by Dr. Fatima Rodriguez, aims to develop innovative approaches to understanding and eliminating cardiovascular disease health disparities across diverse and understudied populations. Prior and current projects seek to identify the source of inequities in cardiovascular disease by race, ethnicity, language, sex, age, and more. We have documented extensive barriers to guideline adherence to cardiovascular prevention recommendations and how these result in adverse clinical outcomes. Several projects also center around Hispanic cardiovascular health and prevention. We have published work highlighting the importance of disaggregation of Hispanic individuals by background, acculturation, and socioeconomic factors. We are also interested in using novel AI/machine learning approaches in the electronic health record to improve cardiovascular risk prediction and treatment for understudied populations, including historically marginalized racial/ethnic patient groups and older adults. Other areas of focus include promoting digital health equity by studying telemedicine access and utilization, especially after the expansion of virtual care following the COVID-19 pandemic. Our research also explores reasons and solutions to increase workforce diversity in cardiovascular medicine and representation of diverse groups in guideline-informing clinical trials.