Simon C. Body, MBChB, MPH, FAHA

Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

Dr. Body completed his residency and fellowship training in New Zealand. After nearly 30 years of experience at Brigham and Women’s and Beth Israel Hospitals, Dr. Body joined BU School of Medicine in 2020. His clinical expertise is in adult cardiac and thoracic anesthesia.

In 2000, Dr. Body initiated and led a program of examining the genetic influences upon adverse clinical outcomes after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. Along with his co-investigators at BWH (Dr. J. Daniel Muehlschlegel), he collected over 2200 patients who had undergone primary CABG as the substrate for this research. Dr. Body and his colleagues are examining the role of variation in candidate genes and their phenotypic expression on adverse postoperative outcomes, specifically atrial fibrillation.

The other major focus of Dr. Body's research is the genetic causes of bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) disease and its and its consequences - calcific aortic valve disease and aortic aneurysm. Along with his colleagues at US, Canadian and European institutions he has led the International BAV Consortium which has collected over 2,500 patients with a bicuspid aortic valve. His own cohort has over 1,700 BAV patients. These cohorts along with those of the GenTAC program and others from collaborating Investigators are currently being used to determine these genetic causes of BAV. Dr. Body is a member of the GenTAC Alliance and Vice Chair of its Basic Science Working Group.

Dr. Body has published more 220 papers, several book chapter and has been almost continuously funded by the NIH, AHA and other organizations since 2001. He has extensive experience mentoring clinical and research residents, fellows and staff.

Publications

  • Published 2/6/2026

    Thériault S, Holdcraft JA, Sharipova D, Faucherre A, Debiec RM, Peloso GM, Al-Kassou B, Aranki S, Ashikhmina Swan E, Ballotta A, Bellino M, Björck HM, Boureau AS, Braund PS, Corriveau F, Dagenais F, Folkersen L, Forte A, Francke MD, Frigiola A, Gorbatov S, Guo D, Habchi KM, Heydarpour M, Isselbacher EM, Jopling C, Laporte F, Le Scouarnec S, Li Z, Lichtner P, Maj C, Manikpurage HD, Nelson CP, Nguyen TB, Norris RA, Ong CS, Pibarot P, Roychowdhury T, Sarubbi B, Simonet F, Sundt T, Surakka I, Tessler I, Willer CJ, Wittmann S, Yang B, Berezovets I, Doppler SA, Dreßen M, Knoll K, Puehler T, Schunkert H, Avierinos JF, Bissell MM, Bolger AP, Bossé Y, Bossone E, Brion M, Citro R, de Vincentiis C, Deeb GM, Della Corte A, Dina C, Durst R, Ensminger S, Eriksson P, Evangelista A, Franco-Cereceda A, Gilon D, Giusti B, Hetherington SL, Huggins GS, Krane M, Le Tourneau T, Limongelli G, Mathieu P, Messika-Zeitoun D, Michelena HI, Milewicz D, Muehlschlegel JD, Murdock DR, Nickenig G, Nistri S, Nöthen MM, Pluchinotta F, Prakash SK, Samani NJ, Schott JJ, Webb TR, Zaffran S, Abdelilah-Seyfried S, Eagle K, Schumacher J, Trenkwalder T, Body SC. Genome and Transcriptome-Wide Analyses Identify Multiple Candidate Genes and a Significant Polygenic Contribution in Bicuspid Aortic Valve. Circulation. 2026 Apr 07; 153(14):1060-1076. PMID: 41645906.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 8/14/2025

    Clift CL, Blaser MC, Bartoli-Leonard F, Schlotter F, Higashi H, Kuraoka S, Kasai T, Turner ME, Pham T, Perez KA, Robson SC, Body SC, Muehlschlegel JD, Aikawa M, Singh SA, Aikawa E. Sexual Dimorphism of Plasma and Tissue Proteomes in Human Calcific Aortic Valve Stenosis Pathogenesis-Brief Report. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2025 Oct; 45(10):1928-1934. PMID: 40808650.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 2/12/2025

    DiGregorio H, Mansoorshahi S, Carlisle SG, Tovar Pensa C, Watts A, McNeely C, Sabate-Rotes A, Yetman A, Michelena HI, De Backer JFA, Mosquera LM, Bissell MM, Andreassi MG, Foffa I, Hui DS, Caffarelli A, Kim YY, Citro R, De Marco M, Tretter JT, McBride KL, Body SC, Milewicz DM, Prakash SK. Contribution of rare chromosome 22q11.2 copy number variants to non-syndromic bicuspid aortic valve. Heart. 2025 Feb 12; 111(5):221-229. PMID: 39658198.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 9/6/2024

    Carlisle SG, Albasha H, Michelena HI, Sabate-Rotes A, Bianco L, De Backer J, Mosquera LM, Yetman AT, Bissell MM, Andreassi MG, Foffa I, Hui DS, Caffarelli A, Kim YY, Guo D, Citro R, De Marco M, Tretter JT, McBride KL, Milewicz DM, Body SC, Prakash SK. Rare genomic copy number variants implicate new candidate genes for bicuspid aortic valve. PLoS One. 2024; 19(9):e0304514. PMID: 39240962.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 9/2/2024

    Mansoorshahi S, Yetman AT, Bissell MM, Kim YY, Michelena HI, De Backer J, Mosquera LM, Hui DS, Caffarelli A, Andreassi MG, Foffa I, Guo D, Citro R, De Marco M, Tretter JT, Morris SA, Body SC, Chong JX, Bamshad MJ, Milewicz DM, Prakash SK. Whole-exome sequencing uncovers the genetic complexity of bicuspid aortic valve in families with early-onset complications. Am J Hum Genet. 2024 Oct 03; 111(10):2219-2231. PMID: 39226896.

    Read at: PubMed

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Websites

Education

  • Univ of Auckland, MBBChB
  • Harvard School of Public Health, MPH
  • Univ of Auckland, MS
  • Univ of Auckland, BS

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