FHS News: Dr. Donald Lloyd-Jones appointed Co-PI of FHS and Director of Framingham Center for Pop & Prevention Science
We are pleased to announce that Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, MD, ScM, has accepted the position of director of the Framingham Center for Population and Prevention Science, principal investigator of the Framingham Heart Study, and chief of the section of preventive medicine within the department of medicine at the Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center, effective January 1, 2025.
Dr. Lloyd-Jones is the chair of preventive medicine and Eileen M. Foell Professor of Heart Research and professor of preventive medicine, medicine and pediatrics at Northwestern University. He previously served as senior associate dean for clinical and translational research and PI/director of the Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences (NUCATS) Institute from 2012-20. Dr. Lloyd-Jones also served as the national president of the American Heart Association in 2021-22.
He received his BA from Swarthmore College, his MD from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and a master of science in epidemiology from Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. He completed a residency in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and served as chief medical resident. After a cardiology fellowship at MGH, he joined the staff as an attending cardiologist, and was an instructor and then assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and MGH. He joined the Framingham Heart Study as a research fellow in 1997 and was a research associate from 1999-2004. In 2004, he moved to Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine and became chair of preventive medicine in 2009.
“I am truly excited to return to the Framingham Study and BU, where I began my research career in earnest,” Dr. Lloyd-Jones said. “I am mindful of the incredible legacy of past leaders, who are all giants in our field, like Drs. Dawber, Kannel, Castelli, Wolf and Ramachandran. I am also excited to partner with Drs. Dan Levy, Joanne Murabito, George O’Connor and Emelia Benjamin, who have been ongoing leaders of the Framingham studies for decades. We have an incredible team, and remarkable opportunities to take Framingham and BU to new heights.”
“Over decades, the Framingham Heart Study has produced great learnings that further our understanding of cardiovascular disease in America. This transition to new leadership retains the depth of familiarity with the study while advancing the latest science and innovations in epidemiology. We have great confidence in Dr. Lloyd-Jones’ ability to lead the Framingham Heart Study into a new era of scientific excellence,” said David C. Goff, MD, PhD, director of the division of cardiovascular sciences at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Lloyd-Jones’ research interests include the study of the mechanisms and life course of cardiovascular health and healthy aging, and cardiovascular disease epidemiology, risk estimation and prevention. Other areas of interest include the use of novel biomarkers and imaging of subclinical atherosclerosis to improve prevention, and the epidemiology and outcomes of hypertension and dyslipidemia. His clinical and teaching interests lie in general cardiology, with a focus on prevention.
He also has been a national leader in public health and clinical approaches to promoting cardiovascular health and preventing cardiovascular diseases across the life course. He served as co-chair of the Risk Assessment Guidelines and a member of the Cholesterol Treatment Guidelines Panel for the 2013 ACC/AHA Guidelines for Cardiovascular Disease Risk Reduction; and was the lead member for risk assessment on the 2018 Cholesterol Guidelines Panel and the 2019 Primary Prevention Guidelines Panel. He has authored over 750 peer-reviewed scientific publications and has been a PI or co-investigator on more than 120 grants (the vast majority from NIH).
Dr. Lloyd-Jones has been named a “Highly Cited Researcher” by Clarivate Analytics in each of the last 10 years for being in the top 1% of cited authors in the field of clinical medicine – a distinction that includes only ~420 investigators worldwide.
The recipient of numerous awards and honors, he is a fellow of the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology and American Society for Preventive Cardiology.
We would like to thank Joanne Murabito, MD, and George O’Connor, PhD, for their valuable contributions and leadership during this interim period. Dr. Murabito will remain co-PI of the Framingham Heart Study.
Please join us in congratulating Dr. Lloyd-Jones and welcoming him to the FHS, BU and BMC.