Exercise and Cardiovascular Health Outcomes (ECHO) Lab

Our Mission

Research in the ECHO Lab is focused on furthering our understanding of the cardiovascular responses to exercise across the spectrum of health and disease. We use assessments of cardiovascular health at rest, during exercise and after an exercise session or exercise training program to i) gain insight into the physiological mechanisms contributing to normal and abnormal cardiovascular responses to exercise, and ii) examine how the cardiovascular system adapts in response to various exercise training programs.

Optimizing lifestyle interventions for hypertension management

Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is the leading modifiable risk factor for hypertension. It is estimated that approximately 50% of American adults have hypertension, with less than 25% effectively managing their blood pressure through pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical (i.e., lifestyle modification) therapies. Our research is focused on optimizing current therapies (e.g., exercise or physical therapy) and identifying new non-pharmaceutical therapies that can be used to help lower blood pressure in populations with hypertension.

Identifying individuals at risk

Exaggerated blood pressure responses to exercise, which describe higher than normal blood pressures during exercise testing, are prognostic of cardiovascular disease and death. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of adult deaths in the United States and worldwide; therefore, identifying individuals at risk of developing cardiovascular disease is of paramount importance. Our research is focused on assessing how factors related to the individual and exercise testing protocol affect the blood pressure responses during exercise. Furthermore, we seek to identify the physiological mechanisms contributing to elevated exercise blood pressures. Our goal is to improve the clinical utility of exaggerated blood pressure responses to exercise to help identify individuals at risk of cardiovascular disease and subsequently lessen the burden of this disease.