Helping families find and treat inherited high cholesterol
Official title: Collaborative Approach to Reach Everyone with Familial Hypercholesterolemia: CARE-FH
Funded at Geisinger Clinic · NIH-11304545 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project tests a clinic-based program to help primary care doctors find and treat children and adults with inherited high cholesterol (familial hypercholesterolemia).
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Geisinger Clinic NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Danville, United States) |
| Project start | February 1, 2022 |
| Project end | January 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $726,344 |
| NIH project number | 5R33HL161775-05 |
| Project ID | NIH-11304545 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
People who receive care at participating primary care clinics—especially children ages 9–11, adolescents 18–20, adults 40 and older, or anyone with very high LDL cholesterol or a family history of FH—are ideal candidates.
✕Less likely to help
People who do not get care at participating clinics, those already diagnosed and treated for FH, or those whose high cholesterol is from non-genetic causes may not benefit directly.
What this research studies
You would be cared for in your regular primary care clinic where new tools help spot people with familial high cholesterol earlier. The program builds routine lipid checks and offers genetic testing at recommended ages while using feedback from patients, clinicians, and health systems to shape how it works. Researchers will track how often people are identified, how acceptable the program is to patients and doctors, and whether the program can be kept running in real clinics. The aim is to create a practical approach other clinics can use to diagnose and treat FH sooner.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could help people get diagnosed earlier and start cholesterol-lowering treatment to lower their risk of early heart disease.
How similar studies have gone: Clinical guidelines and smaller pilot programs support early screening and treatment for FH, but large-scale, human-centered implementation in routine primary care is newer and still being tested.
Where this research is happening
-
Geisinger Clinic
Danville, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Gidding, Samuel S — Geisinger Clinic
- Study coordinator: Gidding, Samuel S
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
-
Using behavioral nudges to improve family screening for inherited high cholesterol
This project uses two patient-facing approaches based on behavioral economics to help people with familial hypercholesterolemia get their relatives screened for the condition.
-
Improving Risk Stratification for Familial Hypercholesterolemia (FH)
A patient-facing look at a study that aims to better predict who with familial hypercholesterolemia is at highest risk for early heart disease.
-
Nonviral CRISPR-Cas9 delivery to liver cells to treat familial hypercholesterolemia
A new approach uses nonviral methods to deliver CRISPR-Cas9 to liver cells and select edited cells with acetaminophen, aiming to permanently lower bad cholesterol in people with familial hypercholesterolemia.
-
Implementing multi-component approaches to help blood donors with familial hypercholesterolemia(
A program to help people who donate blood and have familial hypercholesterolemia get the cholesterol-lowering treatment they need through a blood-donation center.
-
Familial hypercholesterolemia: closing gaps in prevention of heart disease
A new NIH grant is exploring why people with familial hypercholesterolemia often go undiagnosed or receive uneven care, with the goal of improving early detection and prevention of heart disease.
-
Better heart-risk prediction for inherited high cholesterol
This project aims to give people with familial high cholesterol clearer, more personalized estimates of their future heart disease risk using genetic information, cholesterol measures, and other health factors.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.