Steven J. Kittner, MD, M.P.H.

Education and Training

• Brown University, BA, Psychology
• University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, MD 
• University of Minnesota Hospitals, Internship Internal Medicine
• Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, MPH
• National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Cardiovascular Epidemiology Post-Doctoral Fellow    
• Baltimore City Hospitals/John Hopkins, Internal Medicine Residency 
• University of Maryland School of Medicine, Neurology Residency 

Dr. Kittner is an internationally recognized physician-scientist specializing in the epidemiology and genetics of ischemic stroke, particularly stroke in young adults. He established the Baltimore-Washington Young Stroke Study to investigate novel historical, biochemical and genetic risk factors for early-onset ischemic stroke. Factors investigated include timing of pregnancy-associated stroke risk, the reasons for the excess risk of early-onset stroke among African-Americans, and the role of homocysteine and antiphospholipid antibodies in stroke risk. He is a founding member of the International Stroke Genetics Consortium (ISGC) and has been the Administrative PI of the NINDS Stroke Genetics Network (SiGN), an international genome-wide association study of ischemic stroke.  His international collaborative work has been instrumental in identifying novel genetic risk loci for ischemic stroke, including a locus specific to early-onset ischemic stroke. Dr. Kittner has had continuous funding for his research activities over the past 25 years, with support from the National Institutes of Health (NINDS, NHLBI, NIA), the American Heart Association, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Veterans Administration. He has coauthored over 175 peer-reviewed manuscripts, chapters, and reviews.

Stroke, Cerebrovascular Disease, Young Adults, Epidemiology, Genetics

Genome-Wide Association Analysis of Young-Onset Stroke Identifies a Locus on Chromosome 10q25 Near HABP2. Cheng YC, Stanne TM, Giese AK, Ho WK, Traylor M, Amouyel P, Holliday EG, Malik R, Xu H, Kittner SJ, Cole JW, O'Connell JR, Danesh J, Rasheed A, Zhao W, Engelter S, Grond-Ginsbach C, Kamatani Y, Lathrop M, Leys D, Thijs V, Metso TM, et al. Stroke. 2016 Feb;47(2):307-16. PMID: 26732560

Loci associated with ischaemic stroke and its subtypes (SiGN): a genome-wide association study. NINDS Stroke Genetics Network (SiGN).;International Stroke Genetics Consortium (ISGC).Lancet Neurol. 2015 Dec 18. PMID: 26708676

Guidelines for the prevention of stroke in patients with stroke and transient ischemic attack: a guideline for healthcare professionals from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. Kernan WN, Ovbiagele B, Black HR, Bravata DM, Chimowitz MI, Ezekowitz MD, Fang MC, Fisher M, Furie KL, Heck DV, Johnston SC, Kasner SE, Kittner SJ, Mitchell PH, Rich MW, Richardson D, Schwamm LH, Wilson JA; American Heart Association Stroke Council. Stroke. 2014 Jul;45(7):2160-236. PMID: 24788967

Pregnancy and the risk of stroke.  Kittner SJ, Stern BJ, Feeser BR, Hebel R, Nagey DA, Buchholz DW, Earley CJ, Johnson CJ, Macko RF, Sloan MA, Wityk RJ, Wozniak MA. N Engl J Med. 1996 Sep 12;335(11):768-74. PMID: 8703181

Black-white differences in stroke incidence in a national sample. The contribution of hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Kittner SJ, White LR, Losonczy KG, Wolf PA, Hebel JR.JAMA. 1990 Sep 12;264(10):1267-70. PMID: 2388378