J. Michael Gaziano, MD

Adjunct Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

Dr. Michael J. Gaziano, MD, MPH is an internationally recognized chronic disease epidemiologist and trialist. He received his MD from Yale Medical School and his MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health.

At the VA Boston Healthcare System, he is one of the Director the Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center (MAVERIC), a national epidemiology and trial center funded by CSR&D where he directs the epidemiology research center. He is national PI for the Million Veteran Program (MVP), a large project designed to enroll a million veterans into a large observational cohort with stored biospecimens. He also serves as the director of the Boston Geriatric Research and Education Center (GRECC). At VA Boston he runs a preventive cardiology program with an associated fellowship. He is the Chief of the Division of Aging at Brigham and Women’s Hospital where he is principal investigator for the ongoing Physicians' Health Study (PHS) II study, a large-scale trial of vitamins in the prevention of chronic disease. The Physicians’ Health Study cohort is comprised of 29,000 physicians who have been followed for up to 28 years. He is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Gaziano’s research interests include the epidemiology of chronic diseases, with a particular interest in the roles that individual lifestyle choices (diet, exercise, smoking), metabolic factors (obesity, high cholesterol, and hypertension), and biochemical and genetic markers play on the risk of coronary artery disease and stroke. Also of interest is the impact that vascular disease has on other organ systems. Recently, Dr. Gaziano has initiated a number of research projects to investigate the diverse nature of atherosclerosis. While atherosclerosis plaques form only in certain large and medium-sized vessels, the process of atherogenesis affects arteries of all sizes. For example, renal dysfunction, cognitive decline and osteoporosis-related fractures have been linked to various cardiovascular disease risk factors, suggesting a role for small vessel disease in vascular dementia, in abnormal bone remodeling and chronic renal disease. These projects are intended to explore the extent to which atherosclerotic disease in small vessels leads to these and other chronic conditions.

He has published over 350 original reports, reviews, book chapters, and books. He teaches advanced epidemiology and has mentored over 50 trainees. He is a contributing editor for JAMA.

Publications

  • Published 5/11/2026

    Pathak GA, Koller D, Cabrera-Mendoza B, Nono Djotsa ABS, Wendt FR, De Lillo A, Friligkou E, He J, Kouakou MR, Duong LM, Vahey J, Steele L, Quaden R, Harrington KM, Ahmed ST, Gaziano JM, Concato J, Zhao H, Radhakrishnan K, Gelernter J, Gifford E, Aslan M, Helmer DA, Hauser ER, Polimanti R. Unraveling the genetics of gulf war illness in diverse participants enrolled in the million veteran program. Hum Mol Genet. 2026 May 11; 35(8). PMID: 40366759.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 5/7/2026

    Sherva R, Bayly H, Zhang R, Harrington K, Mez J, Miller MW, Tsuang D, Wolf E, Zeng Q, Le Guen Y, Tejeda M, Gaziano JM, Panizzon MS, Hauger RL, Merritt VC, Farrer LA, Logue MW. A Genome-wide Association Study of Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia in a Large Multi-ancestry Military Cohort Identifies Many New Dementia-Associated Loci. medRxiv. 2026 May 07. PMID: 42145619.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 4/22/2026

    Vergara C, Ni Z, Zhong J, McKean D, Connelly KE, Antwi SO, Arslan AA, Bracci PM, Du M, Gallinger S, Genkinger J, Haiman CA, Hassan M, Hung RJ, Huff C, Kooperberg C, Kastrinos F, LeMarchand L, Lee W, Lynch SM, Moore SC, Oberg AL, Park MA, Permuth JB, Risch HA, Scheet P, Schwartz A, Shu XO, Stolzenberg-Solomon RZ, Wolpin BM, Zheng W, Albanes D, Andreotti G, Bamlet WR, Beane-Freeman L, Berndt SI, Brennan P, Buring JE, Cabrera-Castro N, Campa D, Canzian F, Chanock SJ, Chen Y, Chung CC, Eliassen AH, Gaziano JM, Giles GG, Giovannucci EL, Goggins M, Goodman PJ, Hicks B, Hutchinson A, Jones MR, Katzke V, Kogevinas M, Kurtz RC, Laheru D, Lee IM, Malats N, Milne R, Mucci L, Neale RE, Orlow I, Patel AV, Peruchet L, Peters U, Porta M, Rabe KG, Real FX, Ricceri F, Rothman N, Sesso HD, Setiawan VW, Silverman D, Southey MC, Stampfer MJ, Tobias GS, Um C, Visvanathan K, Wactawski-Wende J, Wentzensen N, Willett WC, Yu H, Kraft P, Duggal P, Amundadottir LT, Klein AP. Novel Genetic Risk Loci for Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Identified in a Genome-wide Study of African Ancestry Individuals. medRxiv. 2026 Apr 22. PMID: 42078392.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 4/13/2026

    Liu C, Hui Q, Linchangco GV, Dabbs-Brown A, Zhou JJ, Joseph J, Reaven PD, Rhee MK, Djousse L, Cho K, Gaziano JM, Wilson PW, Phillips LS, Sun YV. Independent Genetic Effects of Glucagon-like Peptide-1 Receptor Locus on Body Mass Index and Type 2 Diabetes. medRxiv. 2026 Apr 13. PMID: 42064929.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 4/3/2026

    Zhou D, Tong H, Wang L, Liu S, Xiong X, Gan Z, Romain G, Hejblum BP, Liu YC, Hong C, Bonzel CL, Cai T, Pan K, Ho YL, Costa L, A Panickan V, Gaziano JM, Mandl KD, Jouhet V, Thiebaut R, Xia Z, Cho K, Liao K, Cai T. Representation learning to advance multi-institutional studies with electronic health record data from US and France. Nat Commun. 2026 Apr 03; 17(1). PMID: 41932876.

    Read at: PubMed

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Websites

Education

  • Yale University School of Medicine, MD
  • Harvard School of Public Health, MPH
  • West Virginia University, BA

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