Elizabeth Barrett-Connor

Elizabeth Louise Barrett-Connor (April 8, 1935 – June 10, 2019) was Chief of the Division of Epidemiology and Distinguished Professor at the University of California, San Diego. She investigated the role of hormones in pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and osteoporosis.

Elizabeth Barrett-Connor
Cardiology Online video (fair use only)
Born
Elizabeth Louise Barrett

(1935-04-08)April 8, 1935
Evanston, Illinois U.S.
DiedJune 10, 2019(2019-06-10) (aged 84)
La Jolla, California, U.S.
Alma materMount Holyoke College
Cornell University
Known forEpidemiology
Spouse(s)
James Connor
​
(m. 1965)​
Children3
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
University of California, San Diego

Early life and education

Barrett-Connor was born in Evanston, Illinois.[1] She was the only child of Florence Hershey and William Barrett. Her father was a chemical engineer, and working in ammunition companies.[1] She grew up in Lee, Massachusetts, and learned to read with her grandmother, who was a postal worker.[1] As a child she saw Leonard Bernstein in orchestra and attended the Northfield Preparatory School.[2] Barrett-Connor studied zoology at Mount Holyoke College and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.[1] She graduated in 1956.[3] In 1960 she earned her medical degree at Cornell University, before completing her internal medicine residency at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.[4] Her early work studied the diarrhea of United States students in Mexico.[5] Barrett-Connor was a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral researcher at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.[1] She earned a diploma in the Clinical Medicine of the Tropics at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in 1965.[2] She moved to the University of Miami as an infectious disease epidemiologist.[2]

Research and career

Barrett-Connor specialised in healthy ageing and women's health.[4] In particular, she championed studying cardiovascular disease in women as well as men.[2] She was recruited to the faculty at the University of California, San Diego in 1972.[1] In 1972 Barrett-Connor founded the Rancho Bernardo Heart and Chronic Disease Study (RBS), which involved over 6,000 people in Rancho Bernardo, San Diego.[6] For the study, Barrett-Connor recruited people from Rancho Bernardo, and studied the connection between lipids and heart disease.[6] She managed to recruit almost 70% of the Rancho Bernardo population.[1] She selected the area as it was reported as having a healthy population. She has collected data for over forty years, including frozen blood samples, and transcends changes in lifestyle and cholesterol.[6] She investigated how family history, fat distribution, cholesterol, physical activity and cigarette smoking impact chronic diseases.[6] Barrett-Connor used the RBS to study sex differences in cardiovascular disease.[7] As of 2011, one third of the participants still reported on their health, and half still have health tests at the Bernado Center Drive Clinic.[6]

Barrett-Connor identified many aspects of women's health, including that women with diabetes have a high triglyceride and that diabetes eliminates women's protection against cardiovascular disease.[2][8][9] It included innovative techniques to assess bone density, demonstrating that low calcium can result in hip fracture.[10] She also showed that smoking during middle age can result in osteoporosis, and that drinking coffee can result in low bone mineral density.[11][12]

Alongside RBS, Barrett-Connor led the Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study.[13] She was also interested in overlooked issues in men's health, including osteoporosis, and was involved with the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men Study and Testosterone Trials.[2] In 1971 Barrett-Cohen established the UCSD Epidemiology and Biostatistics Course.[2]

Her approach to storing blood samples to investigate new hypotheses at a later date was adopted by the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition and the UK Biobank study.[2]

Awards and honours

The American Heart Association hold a series of Elizabeth Barrett-Connor research awards in her honour.[24] She has previously served as the President of the American Public Health Association, the American Epidemiological Society, the American Heart Association Epidemiology Council and the Society for Epidemiologic Research.[2]

Personal life

Barrett-Connor was married to James Connor, a paediatrician at the University of California, San Diego. She had three children, Jonathan, Caroline and Steven as well as two-step children, James-Davis and Susan.[1] Barrett-Connor died on June 10, 2019.[1]

References
  1. "Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, a UCSD researcher who transformed the treatment of heart disease, dies at 84". San Diego Union-Tribune. 2019-06-12. Retrieved 2019-06-22.
  2. Khaw, Kay-Tee (2019-04-01). "Elizabeth Barrett-Connor: Instrumental Contributor to the Understanding of Midlife Well-being and Health in Both Women and Men". Diabetes Care. 42 (4): 502–506. doi:10.2337/dci19-0004. ISSN 0149-5992. PMID 30894382.
  3. https://profiles.ucsd.edu/elizabeth.barrett-connor
  4. "Elizabeth Barrett – Connor, MD". Virology Education. Retrieved 2019-06-22.
  5. Varela, Gerardo; Barrett, Elizabeth L.; Keegan, Caroline J.; Kean, B. H. (1959-05-01). "The Diarrhea of Travelers". The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 8 (3): 353–357. doi:10.4269/ajtmh.1959.8.353. ISSN 0002-9637. PMID 13661538.
  6. "#10 Rancho Bernardo heart, disease study observes 40th year". Pomerado News. 2011-12-28. Retrieved 2019-06-22.
  7. Barrett-Connor, Elizabeth (2013). "Why Women Have Less Heart Disease Than Men and How Diabetes Modifies Women's Usual Cardiac Protection". Global Heart. 8 (2): 95–104. doi:10.1016/j.gheart.2012.12.002. ISSN 2211-8160. PMC 3810980. PMID 24187655.
  8. Barrett-Connor, E.; Ferrara, A. (1998-08-01). "Isolated Postchallenge Hyperglycemia and the Risk of Fatal Cardiovascular Disease in Older Women and Men: The Rancho Bernardo Study". Diabetes Care. 21 (8): 1236–1239. doi:10.2337/diacare.21.8.1236. ISSN 0149-5992. PMID 9702426. S2CID 25718428.
  9. Barrett-Connor, Elizabeth (2013). "Gender differences and disparities in all-cause and coronary heart disease mortality: Epidemiological aspects". Best Practice & Research Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. 27 (4): 481–500. doi:10.1016/j.beem.2013.05.013. ISSN 1521-690X. PMC 3781943. PMID 24054926.
  10. Holbrook, TroyL.; Barrett-Connor, Elizabeth; Wingard, DeborahL. (1988). "Dietary Calcium and Risk of Hip Fracture: 14-Year Prospective Population Study". The Lancet. 332 (8619): 1046–1049. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(88)90065-7. ISSN 0140-6736. PMID 2903278. S2CID 7991141.
  11. Hollenbach, K A Barrett-Connor, E Edelstein, S L Holbrook, T. Cigarette smoking and bone mineral density in older men and women. OCLC 680312806. PMID 8363002.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. Barrett-Connor, Elizabeth (1994-01-26). "Coffee-Associated Osteoporosis Offset by Daily Milk Consumption". JAMA. 271 (4): 280. doi:10.1001/jama.1994.03510280042030. ISSN 0098-7484.
  13. Knowler, W. C.; Barrett-Connor, E.; Fowler, S. E.; Hamman, R. F.; Lachin, J. M.; Walker, E. A.; Nathan, D. M.; Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group (2002-02-07). "Reduction in the Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes with Lifestyle Intervention or Metformin". New England Journal of Medicine. 346 (6): 393–403. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa012512. ISSN 0028-4793. PMC 1370926. PMID 11832527.
  14. "Kelly West Award" (PDF). American Diabetes Association. Retrieved 2019-06-22.
  15. Paul, O. (1998-07-01). "The Last Twenty-Five Years of the American Epidemiological Society: 1972–1996". American Journal of Epidemiology. 148 (1): 104–130. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a009550. ISSN 0002-9262. PMID 9663413.
  16. "James D. Bruce Memorial Award for Distinguished Contributions in Preventive Medicine | Awards, Masterships & Competitions | ACP". www.acponline.org. Retrieved 2019-06-22.
  17. "Awards". American Society of Preventive Cardiology. Retrieved 2019-06-22.
  18. "127 Degrees Presented at 2003 Commencement". WCM Newsroom. Retrieved 2019-06-22.
  19. "UC San Diego Epidemiologist Elizabeth Barrett-Connor Honored for Osteoporosis Work". UC Health - UC San Diego. Retrieved 2019-06-22.
  20. "Past Mentor Award Recipients | Women in Endocrinology". Retrieved 2019-06-22.
  21. "Distinguished Fellowship Awards – 23rd WCHD". cardiologyonline.com. Retrieved 2019-06-22.
  22. "Meet the 2018 Laureates: Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, MD". Endocrine News. Retrieved 2019-06-22.
  23. "Fred Conrad Koch Lifetime Achievement Award | Endocrine Society". www.endocrine.org. Retrieved 2019-06-22.
  24. "Elizabeth Barrett-Connor Research Award for Early Career Investigators". professional.heart.org. Retrieved 2019-06-22.
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