Education and Training

Ph.D.: University of Louisville, Physiology and Biophysics
BSN: University of Louisville
MSN: University of Louisville
Postdoctoral Fellowship: University of Louisville, Diabetes and Obesity Center

Research Interests

My research experience started with the Molecular Cardiology Center and progressed to the Diabetes and Obesity Center. The focus of this research was on understanding the cardiprotection of late phase preconditioning to the damage associated with myocardial infarction. Previous studies have implicated inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and aldose reductase (AR) as mediators of late phase preconditioning. These proteins are all endogenous, and there are ways to increase the proteins’ expression for brief periods of time through lifestyle changes.

Since I already had a unique understanding of the biochemical pathways that regulate cytoprotection in the heart, my interest began to focus on how to translate this to humans. Thus, I began to pursue a graduate level nursing degree to facilitate the transition to human studies. This pursuit led me participate in human studies with neonatal medicine where we investigated the potential protective effect of iNO on lung disease in neonates.

In addition, I have participated in various studies ranging from telemedicine studies of retinopathy of prematurity to survey studies for adults who were once in the neonatal intensive care and received Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO). I participated in all aspects of these human studies including screening, consenting, data collection, regulatory components, proposal submission, and manuscript writing. After completion of my nurse practitioner license, I returned to the DOC to coordinate human studies. I am also an investigator on several projects of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Included in this work is a new grant which will focus on many aspects of regulation, attitudes toward, and injury associated with tobacco use. These and other studies will allow me to incorporate clinical care with my knowledge of mechanistic injury in cardiovascular disease and diabetes. By combining the two skill sets, I will be able to expand my translational research of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity.

Featured Publications

• Yeager R, Keith RJ, Riggs DW, Fleischer D, Browning MHEM, Ossola A, Walker KL, Hart JL, Srivastava S, Rai SN, Smith T, Bhatnagar A. Intra-neighborhood associations between residential greenness and blood pressure. Sci Total Environ. 2024 Oct 10;946:173788. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173788. Epub 2024 Jun 18. PMID: 38901580.
• Keith RJ, Hart JL, Bhatnagar A. Greenspaces And Cardiovascular Health. Circ Res. 2024 Apr 26;134(9):1179-1196. doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.124.323583. Epub 2024 Apr 25. PMID: 38662868.
• Holm RH, Rempala GA, Choi B, Brick JM, Amraotkar AR, Keith RJ, Rouchka EC, Chariker JH, Palmer KE, Smith T, Bhatnagar A. Dynamic SARS-CoV-2 surveillance model combining seroprevalence and wastewater concentrations for post-vaccine disease burden estimates. Commun Med (Lond). 2024 Apr 9;4(1):70. doi: 10.1038/s43856-024-00494-y. PMID: 38594350; PMCID: PMC11004132.
• Xie Z, Sutaria SR, Chen JY, Gao H, Conklin DJ, Keith RJ, Srivastava S, Lorkiewicz P, Bhatnagar A. Evaluation of urinary limonene metabolites as biomarkers of exposure to greenness. Environ Res. 2024 Mar 15;245:117991. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.117991. Epub 2023 Dec 22. PMID: 38141921; PMCID: PMC10922478.
• Hart JL, Shuck B, Owen J, Walker KL, Keith RJ. Biological Sex as a Moderator of Work Determinants of Health: Implications for Work and Stress. Healthcare (Basel). 2024 Jan 8;12(2):135. doi: 10.3390/healthcare12020135. PMID: 38255024; PMCID: PMC10815146.
• Bhatnagar A, Keith R, Yeager R, Riggs D, Sears C, Bucknum B, Smith T, Fleischer D, Chandler C, Walker KL, Hart JL, Srivastava S, Turner J, Rai S. The Green Heart Project: Objectives, Design, and Methods. medRxiv [Preprint]. 2023 Dec 5:2023.12.05.23299461. doi: 10.1101/2023.12.05.23299461. PMID: 38105951; PMCID: PMC10723507.
• Holm RH, Rempala GA, Choi B, Brick JM, Amraotkar AR, Keith RJ, Rouchka EC, Chariker JH, Palmer KE, Smith T, Bhatnagar A. Wastewater and seroprevalence for pandemic preparedness: variant analysis, vaccination effect, and hospitalization forecasting for SARS-CoV-2, in Jefferson County, Kentucky. medRxiv [Preprint]. 2023 Nov 28:2023.01.06.23284260. doi: 10.1101/2023.01.06.23284260. PMID: 36656780; PMCID: PMC9844017.
• Xie Z, Chen JY, Gao H, Keith RJ, Bhatnagar A, Lorkiewicz P, Srivastava S. Global Profiling of Urinary Mercapturic Acids Using Integrated Library-Guided Analysis. Environ Sci Technol. 2023 Jul 25;57(29):10563-10573. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.2c09554. Epub 2023 Jul 11. PMID: 37432892; PMCID: PMC11064822.
• Keith RJ, Holm RH, Amraotkar AR, Bezold MM, Brick JM, Bushau-Sprinkle AM, Hamorsky KT, Kitterman KT, Palmer KE, Smith T, Yeager R, Bhatnagar A. Stratified Simple Random Sampling Versus Volunteer Community-Wide Sampling for Estimates of COVID-19 Prevalence. Am J Public Health. 2023 Jul;113(7):768-777. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2023.307303. Epub 2023 May 18. PMID: 37200600; PMCID: PMC10262242.
• Yeager R, Browning MHEM, Breyer E, Ossola A, Larson LR, Riggs DW, Rigolon A, Chandler C, Fleischer D, Keith R, Walker K, Hart JL, Smith T, Bhatnagar A. Greenness and equity: Complex connections between intra-neighborhood contexts and residential tree planting implementation. Environ Int. 2023 Jun;176:107955. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2023.107955. Epub 2023 May 12. PMID: 37196566; PMCID: PMC10367429.