Epidemiologic Investigators
Emelia J. Benjamin, M.D., ScM
An associate professor of medicine, conducts her research at the Framingham Heart Study, where she serves as Director of the Echocardiography and Vascular Function Laboratories. She has done research at the Framingham Study since 1988 on the epidemiology of atrial fibrillation, cardiac risk factors for stroke, and echocardiography. She is Principal Investigator on 3 RO1 grants investigating the relation of vascular function and inflammation to cardiovascular disease. She also serves as PI of the Framingham component of the Program on Genomic Applications Cardiogenomics Study examining the genetics of cardiac structure and function in collaboration with the MIT Whitehead Institute and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
R. Curtis Ellison, M.D.
A professor of medicine and public health, he is Chief of the Section of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology. Dr. Ellison is Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Elizabeth Bishop Wine Resource Center at Boston University. He is a Fellow of the Council on Epidemiology and Prevention and the Council on Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Metabolism of the American Heart Association, and a member of the Council on Epidemiology and Prevention, International Society of Cardiology. He is the principal investigator of several NIH-funded studies dealing with the genetics of coronary heart disease, hypertension, and coronary calcification, and with the health effects of alcohol consumption.
William B. Kannel, M.D.
A professor of medicine and public health, he is also a fellow of the American College of Epidemiology and the American College of Preventive Medicine (honorary). He has been active in the field of cardiovascular epidemiology for more than 40 years and associated with pioneering the Framingham Heart Study since it’s inception in 1949. In 1966, Dr. Kannel become Director, replacing Dr. Thomas R. Dawber, the original architect of the world famous study. He was also an attending physician at Boston University Medical Center and a member of the Evans Department of Medicine. Dr. Kannel is also trained in public health as well as in internal medicine and clinical cardiology. He has been associated with the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute for over 35 years, and has had a long abiding interest in preventive cardiology for which he received the Dana Award in Preventive Medicine in 1972, the Dutch Einthoven Award in 1973, the Canadian Gairdner Award in 1976, the CIBA Award for Hypertension Research in 1981, the James D. Bruce Memorial Award of the American College of Physicians in 1982, and the Charles A. Dana Award for Pioneering Achievement in Health in 1986. He was named the University Lecturer of Boston University Medical Center in March, 1987. He received the 1988 Distinguished Service Award at the 37th Annual Convocation of the American College of Cardiology in March, 1988, the Award for Research in Hypertension from the National Conference on Cholesterol and Hypertension in 1991, the Bristol Myers Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Cardiovascular Research in 1993, the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Georgia Medical School in 1993, the Research Achievement Award from the American Heart Association in 1994, and the HealthTrac Foundation Fries Award in 1998. Dr. Kannel has also received a honorary medical degree from the University of Rio De Janeiro and an Honorary Doctor of Science Degree from the Medical College of Ohio. He is a past Chairman of the Council of Epidemiology of the American Heart Assocation and a past Chief of the Section of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology in the Department of Medicine at Boston University Medical Center. He has held faculty appointments at Harvard Medical School and was a Senior Research Associate in the Center for Technology and Policy at Boston University.
Daniel Levy, M.D.
Director of the Framingham Heart Study. Dr. Levy is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology and an active member of the AHA Council on Hypertension and the American Society of Hypertension. In addition, Dr. Levy serves on the American College of Cardiology Committee on Hypertensive Diseases and National Cholesterol Education Program’s Adult Treatment Panel III (national cholesterol guidelines). He was a member of the Writing Committee for JNC VI (national hypertension guidelines). Dr. Levy is a medical officer of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and has a faculty appointment at Boston University School of Medicine. Dr. Levy has published over 200 articles in leading cardiovascular and scientific journals, as well as a book on the Framingham Heart Study. He serves on the editorial boards of Journal of American College of Cardiology, Hypertension, Journal of Hypertension, and the American Journal of Medicine. Dr Levy has been the recipient of many awards including the National Institutes of Health Director’s Award given for his research achievements at the Framingham Heart Study. His main areas of research interest include hypertension, left ventricular hypertrophy, heart failure, and the prevention of coronary heart disease. Dr. Levy serves as a Donald W. Reynolds Foundation Scholar. He is overseeing a Reynolds Center project in the Framingham Heart Study that seeks to identify genes for vascular stiffness.
Vasan S. Ramachandran, M.D.
An associate professor of medicine, is a senior investigator at the Framingham Heart Study where he serves as the Co-director of the Echocardiography Laboratory, Co-director of the Framingham Heart Study Fellowship program, and Co-chair of the Framingham Study DNA Committee. His research interests include: A) epidemiology of congestive heart failure, including identifying risk factors for the disease, characterizing the subgroups with diastolic heart failure, asymptomatic LV systolic and diastolic dysfunction, and evaluating the role of LV remodeling; B) population-based vascular testing and echocardiography, including identifying biological, environmental, and genetic determinants (correlates) of cardiac structure and function; normative standards; detailed assessment of biomarkers of the process of LV remodeling, including but not limited to role of natriuretic peptides, insulin resistance, cardiac extracellular matrix markers, oxidative stress, inflammation, growth factors; genetics of LV remodeling, LA and aortic structure and gene-environment interactions; brachial artery endothelial function, its correlates and tonometric assessment of large artery function; C) epidemiology of high blood pressure, including characterizing the lifetime risk, rates of progression and risks associated with various degrees of elevation; large artery stiffness and function and role in systolic hypertension in the elderly; genetics of high blood pressure and large artery function; and D) exercise physiology, and exercise test responses in asymptomatic individuals and prognostic information; relations to endothelial function.
