Vasan Ramachandran Named Coffman Professor in Vascular Medicine

Vasan Ramachandran, MD, FACC, was named the Jay and Louise Coffman Professor in Vascular Medicine at an installation ceremony and reception on Friday, Dec. 9.

The professorship honors Dr. Coffman (1928-2006) and his wife Louise. Dr. Coffman directed the Vascular Medicine Section and was an internationally recognized clinician investigator in the field of peripheral arterial, venous and vasculitic diseases. He discovered the principle of oxygen repayment in post-ischemic hyperemia, in the failure of the clinical use of vasodilators for peripheral arterial ischemia, and the diagnosis and treatment of Raynaud’s phenomenon. His wife Louise was a former BUMC nurse and an active member of the Boston University Women’s Auxiliary. Dr. Coffman was a consummate clinician and mentor who inspired his trainees and colleagues. He was an outstanding clinical investigator and used his understanding of vascular disease to help hundreds of patients and clinicians.

Ramachandran joined BUSM as an associate professor of Medicine in 1998 and was promoted to professor in 2006. He was appointed professor of Epidemiology at BU School of Public Health in 2013. Currently, he serves as Chief of the Section of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology in the Department of Medicine, Principal Investigator of the renowned Framingham Heart Study, with which he has been affiliated for the past 17 years, and Editor of Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics.

He received his medical degree from, and completed his residency in, internal medicine and fellowship in cardiology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India. He is the recipient of many RO1 awards from the National Institutes of Health/National Heart, Lung, Blood Institute and a mid-career clinical investigator award (K24).

Over the last 23 years, Ramachandran has made major contributions to the genetic and non-genetic epidemiology of congestive heart failure; population-based vascular testing, echocardiography and exercise testing; the genetic and non-genetic epidemiology of high blood pressure; and cardiovascular disease risk prediction models. His many awards and honors include the Department of Medicine’s Evans Scholar and Outstanding Mentor awards in 2010; Outstanding Mentor, American Heart Association (AHA) Council on Epidemiology Prevention in 2012; and the AHA’s prestigious Population Science Award in 2014.