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Provided is a method for identifying an agent for treating or ameliorating symptoms of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), comprising (a) contacting candidate compounds with iPSCs bearing CVD risk 9p21.3 haplotype, which may be generated from PBMC of subjects, (b) examining the compounds-contacted iPSCs' differentiation into vascular smooth muscle cells ("VSMC differentiation"), and (c) examining VSMC differentiation of negative control cells, which are the same iPSCs not contacted with the candidate compounds; wherein an improved VSMC differentiation of iPSCs contacted with a specific candidate compound, relative to that of the negative control cells, identifies the specific candidate compound as an agent for treating or ameliorating symptoms of CVDs.