Professor of Medicine, HMS

I apply epidemiologic techniques to study the etiology and preventability of common medical problems, and to improve the efficiency of managing common illnesses.

My current work has three major themes:

1. preventing strokes in atrial fibrillation, including optimizing anticoagulant therapy for patients with this condition. Ongoing studies include those focusing on determinants of stroke and bleeding among patients treated with warfarin, and on determinants of poor control of anticogulation and poor patient compliance with anticoagulation regimens;
2. assessing the causes of vascular disease in patients with diabetes and related metabolic abnormalities, including studies assessing the association of glucose control and insulin resistance with vascular disease in the Framingham Study; and
3. optimizing the efficiency of treatment for community acquired pneumonia, primarily using data from the cohort study of the Pneumonia Patient Outcomes Research Team. Each of these themes is relevant, as well, to the development of programs for medical quality assurance and quality improvement.

M.D., 1974, Harvard Medical School
M.A., 1976, Oxford University