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Framingham Heart Study

Matthew G. Nayor, MD, MPH,
Named Medical Director of
Framingham Heart Study

Matthew G. Nayor, MD, MPH, associate professor medicine at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, has been named medical director of the Framingham Heart Study (FHS). In this newly created position, Nayor will initially oversee and enhance the capture and adjudication of clinical events, including cardiovascular events, stroke, other major medical events and cause-of-death determinations. In addition, he will participate in clinical examinations and provide oversight of findings that require referrals or alerts for FHS participants.

Nayor is a clinical-translational investigator and heart failure cardiologist at Boston Medical Center. His research background includes basic science investigations, physiologic studies and cardiovascular epidemiology focusing on the intersection of metabolic health and cardiovascular disease.

“We are excited to have Dr. Nayor join the leadership team of the world-renowned Framingham Heart Study. He already has significant experience as a researcher leveraging cohort data and generating new science with our wonderful participants,” says FHS director Donald Lloyd-Jones, MD, ScM.

In this new role, he will bring his clinical experience and research skills to help advance our capture and review of clinical events experienced by our participants, including by leveraging AI to enhance our oversight and classification of participant outcomes.

Donald Lloyd-Jones, MD, ScM

“In this new role, he will bring his clinical experience and research skills to help advance our capture and review of clinical events experienced by our participants, including by leveraging AI to enhance our oversight and classification of participant outcomes. Matt’s appointment as medical director is indicative of a rising generation of leadership for FHS, and we know that the study will be in great hands for the future as a result,” adds Lloyd-Jones who also is a professor of medicine at the school.

“I am honored to join the leadership team of the Framingham Heart Study and take on this exciting new role. I have had the privilege of working with the FHS staff and participants for over a decade, first as a research fellow and now as an FHS investigator. I look forward to the opportunity to give back to this vital study by ensuring that its review of clinical events remains rigorous, precise and forward-looking,” says Nayor.

Nayor received training in internal medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital Osler Medical Residency training program and cardiology and heart failure and transplantation training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He currently leads community-based studies evaluating metabolic responses to discrete physiologic perturbations, such as exercise and dietary intervention.

Established in 1948, FHS, under the direction of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), formerly known as the National Heart Institute, has been committed to identifying the common factors or characteristics that contribute to cardiovascular disease (CVD). In 1971, FHS became a joint project of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and Boston University. Over the years, careful monitoring of the FHS population has led to the identification of the major CVD risk factors – high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, smoking, obesity, diabetes and physical inactivity – as well as valuable information on the effects of related factors such as blood triglyceride and HDL cholesterol levels, age, gender and psychosocial issues. Today, investigators also collaborate with leading researchers from around the country and throughout the world on projects in stroke and dementia, osteoporosis and arthritis, nutrition, diabetes, eye diseases, hearing disorders, lung diseases and genetic patterns of common diseases.