Open Research and Contributor Identifier ORCID - 0000-0001-8211-8309

Department Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Education

• M.P.H.  Yale University  2002
• M.D.  Carol Davila University of Medicine, Bucharest, Romania  1994
• Ph.D.  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill  2006

Background

• Associate Professor, Indiana University Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, January 2014 - Present
• Associate Professor, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, July 2012 - January 2014
• Assistant Professor, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, December 2006 - June 2012
• National Research Service Award (NRSA) through NIH/NIDDK Postdoctoral Fellow, UNC - Chapel Hill, January 2005 - December 2005
• National Research Service Award (NRSA) through NIH/NHLBI Postdoctoral Fellow, UNC - Chapel Hill, August 2002 - June 2004
• Research Assistant,Department of Epidemiology, Laboratory of Environmental and Genetic Toxicology, Yale University, August 2000 - May 2002
• Consultant, Consulting Firm in Toxicology, Risk Assessment, Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology, Borak and Co, April 1999 - January 2001
• Attending Physcian and Clinics Director, Occupational Medicine Clinics, Petrom National Oil Co., Brazi, Romania, November 1998 - April 1999

• Permanent Member on two NIH Study Sections/Review Panels: ZRG1-PSE A55 (Center for Scientific Review; CSR), ZHL1 CSR-I (F1) (National Heart Lung and Blood Institute; NHLBI)
• Member for the NIMHD Loan Repayment Program (LRP), From March 2019
• Certificate of Appreciation for "Outstanding scholarship and lasting contribution to the Unites States of America – Caribbean Alliance for Health Disparities Research"
• Outstanding Reviewer Recognition Award for "The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism"
• Most Prolific/Productivity Award-Excellence in Prolific Grant Writing, Cardiovascular Research Institute, Morehouse School of Medicine
• Health Disparities Research Training Award
• Cancer Research Educational Grant Award (NIH-NCI), Mount Desert Island Laboratory, Salisbury Cove, ME
• Ad Hoc grant reviewer (Special Emphasis Panel), National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities - NIMHD (NIH), since 2011
• Health Disparities Research Award from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2008
• Co-Chair, 'Biomarkers Session'; 2012 National Conference - American Heart Association (AHA) Epidemiology Council and Nutrition and Physical Activity Council, March 2012
• Editorial Board Member, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism
• Reviewer for more than 10 journals, including Circulation, American Journal of Epidemiology, PLoS Series, American Journal of Preventive Medicine
• Reviewer, American Heart Association 'Epidemiology Council' - Spring Conference
• Member, American College of Epidemiolgy
• Member, American Heart Association

Scientific Statement

I have the expertise, leadership, training, and motivation necessary to successfully carry out (as principal investigator / project director) several research projects. I have a broad background in medicine, public health and epidemiology, with specific training and expertise in several key research areas. My clinical background training is in metabolic diseases (in Romania and France). My US-based training is in environmental and genetic toxicology (Yale University) as well as, during my doctoral and post-doctoral training at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in cardiovascular disease and nutritional epidemiology. Within the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study, I have published methodological and analytical studies that included methyl-donor nutrients (such as betaine) and their association with coronary artery disease. I am the principal investigator of the Jackson Heart Ancillary Study that provided measurements for adiponectin in all the JHS participants ("Developing predictive biomarkers for left ventricular hypertrophy in obese African Americans"), and the principal investigator on another JHS ancillary study that provided measurements for ghrelin and high molecular weight adiponectin ("The visceral adiposity tissue role in the association of ghrelin and adiponectin multimers with CVD in African Americans; A JHS Vanguard Pilot Project"). A third JHS ancillary study (planned as an R01 grant proposal) on adiposity biomarkers and bone mineral density was recently accepted by the JHS Steering Committee. As first author and/or as senior/corresponding author I have contributed to several of the JHS cohort's published manuscripts (including the first JHS events paper), as well as to publications (as first author) for 5 other large cohorts studies. Five of the papers with PhD/MPH/Trainee students are currently published, in press or in advanced review.

I currently serve as the co-investigator on a series of Cross-Cohort Collaboration (CCC), ADIPOGen, and NHLBI / ESP consortium projects assessing the association of insulin resistance and clinical endpoints (diabetes and obesity) with a series of single nucleotide polymorphisms within adiponectin and adiponectin receptors genes. Several seminal papers resulted from these collaborations, with me as first, senior or main author.

Selected Publications

Articles

Bidulescu, A., Choudhry, S, Musani SK, Buxbaum, SG, Liu, J, Rotimi CN, Wilson, JG, Taylor, HA, Gibbons, GH. "Associations of adiponectin with individual European ancestry in African Americans: the Jackson Heart Study" Frontiers in Applied Genetic Epidemiology Front. Genet Feb 2014 5:22 doi: 10.3389/fgene.2014.00022

Olivo RE, Davenport CA, Diamantidis CJ, Bhavsar NA, Tyson CC, Hall R, Bidulescu A, Young B, Mwasongwe SE, Pendergast J, Boulware LE, Scialla JJ. Obesity and synergistic risk factors for chronic kidney disease in African American adults: the Jackson Heart Study. Nephrol Dial Transplant. 2017 Aug 30. doi: 10.1093/ndt/gfx230. [Epub ahead of print]

Musani, SK, Vasan, RS, Bidulescu, A, Xanthakis, V, Sims, M, Gawalapu, RK, Samdarshi, TE, Steffes, M, Taylor, HA, Fox, ER. Aldosterone, C-Reactive Protein, and Plasma B-Type Natriuretic Peptide Are Associated With the Development of Metabolic Syndrome and Longitudinal Changes in Metabolic Syndrome Components: Findings From the Jackson Heart Study. Diabetes Care, 2013; 36(10):3084-92

Egbuche O, Millard HR, Renelus B, Maihemuti A, Musani SK, Fox ER, Liu J, Taylor HA, Bidulescu A. Prospective associations of Serum Ferritin Levels with Cardiovascular Disease Incidence among African Americans: the Jackson Heart Study. Accepted to American Journal of Cardiology. 2017 Nov 1;120(9):1533-1540. (Senior Author with Trainee as first author)

Bidulescu, A, Liu, J, Chen, Z, Hickson, DA, Musani, S, Samdarshi, T, Fox, E, Taylor, HA, Gibbons, GH. "Associations of adiponectin and leptin with incident coronary heart disease and ischemic stroke in African Americans: The Jackson Heart Study" Frontiers in Epidemiology Front.Public Health May 2013;1:16 . doi:10.3389/fpubh.2013.00016 (Impact Factor of the Journal: 2.5)

Ferguson TS, Younger-Coleman NO, Tulloch-Reid MK, Hambleton IR, Francis DK, Bennett NR, McFarlane SR, Bidulescu A, Macleish MY, Hennis AJ, Wilks RJ, Harris EN, Sullivan LW. Educational Health Disparities in Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors: Findings from Jamaica Health and Lifestyle Survey 2007-8. Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine. 2017 15;4:28.

Bidulescu, A, Liu, J, Hickson, DA, Hairston, KG, Sumner, AE, Taylor, HA, Gibbons, GH. "Gender-Differences in the Associatioin of Abdominal Visceral Adipose Tissue with Adiponectin and Leptin in African Americans: The Jackson Heart Study" BMC Cardiovascular Disorders February 2012;13:9

Gorczyca AM, Eaton CB, LaMonte MJ, Manson J, Johnston JD, Bidulescu A, Waring M, Manini T, Martin L, Stefanick M, He K, Chomistek AK. Change in physical activity and sitting time after myocardial infarction and mortality among postmenopausal women in the Women's Health Initiative-Observational Study. Journal of American Heart Association. 2017 May 15;6(5). (Co-author with PhD student as first author)

Yaghootkar, H, Warren, L, Lawlor, D, Scott, R, Dastani, Z, Hivert, M-F, Hennman, P, Langenberg, C, Gillson, C, Buxbaum, S, Wu, Y, Lyytikainen, L-P, Ballantyne, CM, Kedenko, L, Loos, R, Raitakari, O, Allison, M, Sinaiko, A, Paulweber, B, Mohlke, K, van Duijn, C, Lehtimaki, T, Bidulescu, A, Pankow, J, Meigs, J, Wareham, N, Laakso, M, Walker, M, Waterworth, D, Richards, JB, Frayling, T. Mendelian Randomization Studies To Understand the Role for Reduced Adiponectin Levels in Insulin Resistance or Type 2 Diabetes. Diabetes 2013; 62(10):3589-98.

Gorczyca AM, Eaton CB, LaMonte MJ, Garcia DO, Johnston JD, He K, Bidulescu A, Goodman D, Groessl E, Lane DS, Stefanick ML, Newcomb PA, Mouton C, Chomistek AK. Association of physical activity and sitting time with incident colorectal cancer in postmenopausal women. European Journal of Cancer Prevention. 2017 May 19. (Co-author with PhD student as first author)

Liu, J, Heetderks, W, Albert, M, Hundley, G, Bidulescu, A. The Revolution in Risk Assessment and Disease Detection: Implications for Population Science. The Jackson Heart Study 10th Anniversary Conference. Ethnicity and Disease 22(3) Suppl. 1: 28-29

Bidulescu A, Ferguson TS, Hambleton I, Younger-Coleman N, Francis D, Bennett N, Griswold M, Fox E, MacLeish M, Wilks R, Harris EN, Sullivan LW; U.S. Caribbean Alliance for Health Disparities Research Group (USCAHDR). Educational health disparities in hypertension and diabetes mellitus among African descent populations in the Caribbean and the USA: a comparative analysis from the Spanish town cohort (Jamaica) and the Jackson heart study (USA). Int J Equity Health. 2017 Feb 14;16(1):33.

Fox, ER, Musani, SK, Singh, P , Bidulescu, A, Samdarshi, TE, Steffes, M, Taylor, HA. "Plasma Brain Natriuretic Peptide Concentration Predicts Longitudinal Change in Blood Pressure and Incident Hypertension in Non-Hypertensive Individuals: The Jackson Heart Study" Hypertension January 2013;61(1):48-54

Davis SK, Xu R, Riestra P, Gebreab SY, Khan RJ, Gaye A, Hickson D, Sims M, Bidulescu A. Association of adiponectin and socioeconomic status in African American men and women: the Jackson heart study. BMC Public Health, 2016 Jun 14;16(1):511.

Liu, J, Musani, SK, Bidulescu, A, Carr, JJ, Wilson, JG, Taylor, Fox, CS. "Fatty Liver, Abdominal Adipose Tissue and Atherosclerotic Calcification in African Americans: The Jackson Heart Study" Atherosclerosis October 2012;224(2):251-5

Foraker RE, Greiner M, Sims M, Tucker KL, Towfighi A, Bidulescu A, Shoben AB, Smith S, Talegawkar S, Blackshear C, Wang W, Hardy NC, O’Brien E. Comparison of Risk Scores for the Prediction of Stroke in African Americans: Findings from the Jackson Heart Study. American Heart Journal, 2016 Jul;177:25-32.

Dastani, Z, Hivert, MF, Timpson, N, Perry, J, Yuan, X, Scott, RA, Hennman, P, Heid, IM, Kizer, JR, Lyytikainen, L-P, Fuchsberger, C, Tanaka, T, Morris, AP, Small, K, Isaacs, A, Beekman, M, Coassins, S, Lohman, K, Qi, L, Kanoni, S, Pankow, JS, Uh, H-W, Wu, Y, Bidulescu, A, et al. "Fifteen Novel Loci for Adiponectin Levels and their Influence on Risk of Type 2 Diabetes and Metabolic Traits: Results from a Multi-Ethnic Study of 45,891 Individuals" PLoS Genetics March 2012; 8(3):1-23

Millard HR, Musani SK, Hickson DA, Talegawkar SA, Taylor HA, Tucker KL, Bidulescu A. Dietary Choline and Betaine Intakes are Associated with Incident Cardiovascular Disease Events and Left Ventricular Mass: The Jackson Heart Study. European Journal of Nutrition 2018 Feb;57(1):51-60 . (Corresponding author with MPH student as first author)

Biculescu, A, Liu, J, Musani, SK, Fox, ER, Samdarshi, TE, Sarpong, DF, Vaccarino, V, Wilson, PW, Arnett, DK, Din-Dzietham, R, Taylor, HA, Gibbons, GH. "Association of Adiponectin with Left Ventricular Mass in African Americans: The Jackson Heart Study" Circulation: Heart Failure November 2011; 4(6):747-53

Davis SK, Xu R, Gebreab SY, Riestra P, Gaye A, Khan RJ, Wilson JG, Bidulescu A. Association of ADIPOQ gene with type 2 diabetes and related phenotypes in African American men and women: the Jackson Heart Study. BMC Genet. 2015 Dec 23;16(1):147 (Impact factor of the journal 3.5)

Liu, J, Fox, CS. Hickson, DA, Bidulescu, A, Carr, JJ, Taylor, HA. "Intraphepatic Fat, Abdominal Visceral Fat, and Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors: The Jackson Heart Study" Arterioscierosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology (ATVB) November 2011; 3(11):2715-22

Horbal SR, Seffens W, Davis AR, Stoyanova N, Gibbons GH, Quarells RC, Bidulescu A. Associations of Apelin, Visfatin and Urinary 8-isoprostane with Severe Hypertension among African Americans: the MH-GRID Study. American Journal of Hypertension, 2016 Jul;29(7):814-20 (corresponding author with PhD student as first author)

Fox, ER, Musani SK, Bidulescu, A, Nagarajarao, HS, Samdarshi, TE, Gebreab, SY, Sung, JH, Steffes, MW, Wang, TJ, Taylor, Jr., HA, Vasan, RS. "The relation of obesity to circulating B-type Natriuretic Peptide concentrations in African Americans: The Jackson Heart Study" Circulation August 2011; 124(9):1021-7

Al Mheid I, Held E, Uphoff I, Martin GS, Dunbar S, Bidulescu A, Gibbons G, Jones DP, Vaccarino V, Quyyumi AA. Depressive Symptoms and Subclinical Vascular Disease: The Role of Regular Physical Activity. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2016 19;67(2):232-4.

Hickson, DA, Liu, J, Bidulescu, A, Burchfiel, CM, Taylor, HA, Petrini, MF. Pericardial fat is associated with impaired lung function and a restrictive lung pattern in adults: The Jackson Heart Study. Chest December 2011; 140(6):1567-73

Shen J, Poole JC, Topel ML, Bidulescu A, Morris AA, Patel RS, Binongo JG, Dunbar SB, Phillips L, Vaccarino V, Gibbons GH, Quyyumi AA. Subclinical Vascular Dysfunction Associated with Metabolic Syndrome in African Americans and Whites. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2015 Nov;100(11)

Bidulescu, A, Din-Dzietham, R, Coverson, L, Chen, R, Meng, YX, Buxbaum, SG, Gibbons, GH, Welch, VL. "Interaction of sleep quality and psychosocial stress on obesity in African Americans: the Cardiovascular Health Epidemiology Study" BMC Public Health 10:581, 2010

Bidulescu A, Francis DK, Ferguson TS, Bennett NR, Hennis AJ, Wilks R, Harris EN, MacLeish M, Sullivan LW; U.S. Caribbean Alliance for Health Disparities Research Group (USCAHDR). Disparities in hypertension among black Caribbean populations: a scoping review by the U.S. Caribbean Alliance for Health Disparities Research Group (USCAHDR). Int J Equity Health. 2015 Nov 5;14(1):125. (Impact Factor for the Journal: 2.2)

Alonso A, Nettleton, JA, Ix, JH, de Boer, IH, Forsom, AR, Bidulescu, A, Kestenbaum, BR, Chambless, LE, Jacobs, DR. "Dietary phosphorus, blood pressure and incidence of hypertension in the ARIC and MESA studies" Hypertension 2010;55(3):776-84(Cited by 10)

Riestra P, Gebreab SY, Xu R, Khan RJ, Bidulescu A, Correa A, Tekola-Ayele F, Davis SK. Gender-specific associations between ADIPOQ gene polymorphisms and adiponectin levels and obesity in the Jackson Heart Study cohort. BMC Med Genet . 2015 Aug 20;16:65.

Subbiah, R, Chengat, V, Clifton, JD, Rathinavel, A, Bidulescu, A, Tharmarajan, R, Selvam, GS. "Cardiac isoform of alpha 2 macroglobulin and its reliability as a cardiac marker in HIV patients" Heart, Lung and Circulation2010;19(2):93-5

Shen J, Poole JC, Topel ML, Bidulescu A, Morris AA, Patel RS, Binongo JG, Dunbar SB, Phillips L, Vaccarino V, Gibbons GH, Quyyumi AA. Subclinical Vascular Dysfunction Associated with Metabolic Syndrome in African Americans and Whites. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2015 November, 100(11):4231-9.

Bidulescu, A, Chambless, LE, Siega-Riz, AM, Zeisel SH, Heiss G. "Repeatability and measurement error in the assessment of choline and betaine dietary intake: the Atheroscierosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study" Nutritional Journal, 8(1): Article 14, 2009 (Impact Factor of the Journal: 2.6)

Davis SK, Gebreab SY, Xu R, Riestra P, Khan RJ, Sumner AE, Hickson DA, Bidulescu A. Association of adiponectin with type 2 diabetes and hypertension in African Americans men and women: the Jackson Heart Study. BMC Cardiovascular Disorders 2015 15:13.

Bidulescu, A, Rose, KM, Wolf, SH, Rosamond, WD. "Occupation recorded on certificates of death compared with self-report: the ARIC Study" BMC Public Health , 7: Article 229, 2007 (Impact Factor of the Journal: 2.4)

Musani SK, Fox ER, Kraja A, Bidulescu A, Lieb W, Lin H, Beecham A, Chen MH, Felix JF, Fox C, Kao WH, Kardia SL, Liu CT, Nalls MA, Rundek T, Sacco RL, Smith J, Sun YV, Wilson G Sr, Zhang Z, Mosley TH, Taylor HA Jr, Vasan RS. Genome-Wide Association Analysis of Plasma B-Type Natriuretic Peptide in African Americans: The Jackson Heart Study. Circulation Cardiovascular Genetics 2015, Feb;8(1):122-30.

Bidulescu, A, Chambless, L, Siega-Riz, AM, Zeisel, S, Heiss, G. "Usual choline and betaine dietary intake and incident coronary heart disease: the Atheroscierosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study" BMC Cardiovascular Disorders ;7:Article 20, 2007 (Impact Factor of the Journal: 2.1)

Bidulescu A, Morris AA, Stoyanova N, Meng YX, Vaccarino V, Quyyumi AA, Gibbons GH. Association between Vitamin D and Adiponectin and Its Relationship with Body Mass Index: The META-Health Study. Front Public Health. 2014 Oct 14;2:193 (Triggered the Editorial)

Borak, JB, Bidulescu, A. "Some thoughts on mulitple comparisons and their correction" The Occupational and Environmental Medicine Report 14 (9): 27-32, 2000 (Invited Paper; Cited by 2)

Books

Bidulescu A., Alexandrescu D., Subbiah R. "Cardiotoxicology in Encyclopedia of Environmental Health" - editorship of Simon Wood, PhD; Elsevier, 2011

Bidulescu A., Bacanamwo M., "Cardiovascular Diseases. in Nurition in Epigenetics." Mihai D. Niculescu, Paul Haggarty, Blackwell Publishing, Ltd., 2011. DOI: 10. 1002/9780470959824.ch10

Bidulescu, A. "A comparison of the genotoxic effects of Cr (VI) in cell culture models: Current cell culture models are inadequate" - Thesis, Yale University, 42 Pages (Advisor: Dr. John Wise), 2002

Bidulescu, A. "Usual dietary intake of choline and betaine: Descriptive epidemiology, repeatability and association with incident coronary events. The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study" - Dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 164 Pages (Advisor: Dr. Gerardo Heiss), 2006