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Hanna Gaggin, MD, MPH

Hanna Gaggin, MD, MPH
Contributor

Hanna Gaggin, MD, MPH, is a general cardiologist, educator and clinical investigator at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. She is a member of the Cardiovascular Medicine Section Leadership Council and Cardiovascular Continuing Medical Education Oversight Committee at Massachusetts General Hospital. She is the Subspecialty Core Educator for the Internal Medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and is active in peer-education through her role as editor and course director for the MGH Cardiology Board Review Book and on demand cardiology education with Harvard Medical School Graduate Medical Education.

Dr. Gaggin serves as an Editorial Consultant for the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Heart Failure and reviews for multiple cardiology and medicine peer-reviewed journals. Her research focuses on evidence-based application of precision medicine in cardiology. She is involved in single and multi-center clinical trials to evaluate heart failure, TTR amyloidosis and myocardial infarction phenotypes using novel machine learning techniques, biomarkers and longitudinal data.

Dr. Gaggin graduated from the Eastern Virginia Medical School in 2003. She completed her Internal Medicine residency at the University of Virginia Health System, followed by an MPH at Harvard School of Public Health with a concentration in Quantitative Methods in 2007. She completed her clinical cardiology fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and clinical research fellowship at MGH and joined the faculty at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in 2012.

Posts by Hanna Gaggin, MD, MPH

Lowering cholesterol protects your heart and brain, regardless of your age

Hanna Gaggin, MD, MPH

Contributor
Davis Kimaiyo, MD

Contributor
older asian man taking cholesterol medication

Studies have consistently shown that lowering LDL cholesterol reduces the risk of cardiovascular events and death. But do older adults — even those with existing cardiovascular disease — get the same benefits from lowering cholesterol, and do they face any additional risks from taking cholesterol-lowering medication? An analysis of data from previous studies reached some favorable conclusions.

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Hypertension, health inequities, and implications for COVID-19

Hanna Gaggin, MD, MPH

Contributor
Kemar Brown, MD

Contributor
diversity holding hands

In the US, racial and ethnic minority groups are more likely to have hypertension, thus putting them at higher risk for a COVID-19 infection. Controlling blood pressure helps reduce risk, but the underlying health inequities that make these groups more vulnerable also need to be addressed.

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Is it safe to reduce blood pressure medications for older adults?

Hanna Gaggin, MD, MPH

Contributor
Daniel Kirshenbaum, MD

Contributor
older patient and doctor discussing blood pressure medications

Many older people take multiple medications, and managing them can be a burden. It’s common for people with high blood pressure to be prescribed several medications, so a recent study examined the effects of reducing the number of blood pressure medications in a small group of test subjects.

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Gender differences in cardiovascular disease: Women are less likely to be prescribed certain heart medications

Hanna Gaggin, MD, MPH

Contributor
Andrew Oseran, MD, MBA

Contributor
prescription medications in woman's hand

Cardiovascular disease is the leading killer of both women and men in the US, but despite the significant impact it has on women, awareness and education for women’s heart disease has historically been low. A recent meta-analysis found that women were significantly less likely to be prescribed common medications for CVD.

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