Goodarz Danaei

Overview

Dr. Danaei received his medical degree from the Tehran School of Medical Sciences and his Master of Science and Doctor of Science degrees in Epidemiology and Global Health and Population from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. His global health research focuses on quantifying the population-level impact of risk factors and preventive interventions on cardiovascular disease, globally with a focus on low- and middle-income countries. He serves as a core member of a global consortium that focuses on examining country-level, regional and global levels and trends of major cardiometabolic risk factors (www.NCDrisC.org). He has contributed extensively to developing the statistical methods that are used in these global analyses to improve the consistency and comparability of data across surveys and risk factors. He led the team that developed the first country-level risk prediction model for cardiovascular disease (www.globorisk.org) that has since been used by several dozen research and clinical groups worldwide. His team has also examined the impact of risk factors on health disparities within or across countries and quantified the potential impact of population-level preventive interventions on health disparities.

His epidemiological research applies advanced methods of causal inference to questions of comparative effectiveness research from electronic health records and other observational data. He has helped further develop and apply Marginal Structural Models and the parametric G-formula to quantify the causal effects of lifestyle changes or medications on long-term risk of cardiovascular diseases while adjusting for time-varying confounding and selection bias. These research projects are conducted in collaboration with other faculty and researchers from the Program in Causal Inference. He is also interested in applying methods of mediation analysis to questions of mediation and pathways in cardiovascular disease epidemiology using data from prospective cohort studies.
As of 2016, Dr Danaei chairs and directs the Bernard Lown Scholars in Cardiovascular Health Program. The program aims to train an international cadre of talented health professionals who will use public health tools and strategies to prevent cardiovascular diseases and promote cardiovascular health in developing countries. The Program recruits about a dozen mid-career professionals and scientists and supports them with seed grants to conduct cardiovascular disease prevention projects in their countries.