PhD, 1983, Johns Hopkins University

MD, 1976, Johns Hopkins University

MPH, 1976, Johns Hopkins University

Thomas A. Pearson, MD, MPH, PhD

Associate Dean for Clinical Research, Albert D. Kaiser Professor,
Division of Epidemiology,
Community & Preventive Medicine

Contact Information:

University of Rochester
Community & Preventive Medicine
601 Elmwood Avenue, Box 644
Rochester, NY 14642

Office: 4-W150
Phone: (585) 275-2191
Fax: (585) 756-7775

Email:
Reenie_Marcello@urmc.rochester.edu
(Administrative Assistant)

Research:

The epidemiology and prevention of cardiovascular atherosclerotic disease, with a special interest in the role of nutrition in lipid metabolism and atherogenesis.

Dr. Pearson has been especially interested in clinical research training. He is the Principal Investigator for the Rochester Clinical Research Curriculum, supported by a K30 grant from the National Institutes of Health. He is also Program Director for an Institutional Research Training Grant for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, entitled "Research Training in Preventive Cardiology." He is also Principal Investigator on a Nutrition Academic Award from NHLBI to design a medical school curriculum in nutrition.

Dr. Pearson has several areas of research interests, all in the field of Preventive Cardiology. First, he has been interested in developing guidelines in Preventive Cardiology, examining the extent to which they are implemented, and identifying barriers to their implementation. He has been a writer of American Heart Association guidelines for the primary and secondary prevention of heart disease and stroke. He has been the Principal Investigator for the L-TAP and ACCEPT studies, examining the extent to which guidelines are carried out.

Second, Dr. Pearson has carried out clinical trials of dietary and drug interventions in lipid disorders. He has served on the Steering Committees or Data Safety and Monitoring Boards for VA-HIT, PROSPER, COURAGE, MADIT-II, and other multicenter trials. He has been a participant in randomized trials of new therapeutic agents. His particular interests have been in HDL metabolism and the role of lipoprotein (a) in atherogenesis.

Third, Dr. Pearson was one of the first to identify the spread of the coronary disease epidemic to developing countries. He has an interest in international trends in cardiovascular disease and stroke. He is a founding member of the World Heart Forum for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and has served on international projects for the World Bank, World Heart Federation, and the International Heart Health Network. He is a coauthor of the Singapore and Osaka Declarations for Heart Health.

Dr. Pearson has lectured and published extensively on the prevention of cardiovascular disease, including research at the patient, healthcare system, community, and public policy levels.

• Pearson, TA.  Comparison of Effects of Ezetimibe/Simvastatin versus Simvastatin versus Atrovastatin in Reducing C-Reactive Protein and Low Density Lipoprotein-Cholesterol Levels.  Am J Cardiol. In press.
• Block, RC, Pearson, TA. The Cardiovascular Implications of Omega-3 Fatty Acids. Folia Cardiologica. In press.
• Pearson, TA. The Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease: Have We Really Made Progress? Health Affairs (2007) 26:49-60.
• Levy DR, Pearson TA. Combination niacin and statin therapy in primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. Clinical Cardiology 2005 (July);28(7): 317-20
• Pearson, TA, Denke, MA, McBride, PE, et al.  A Community-Based, Randomized Trial of Ezetimibe Added to Statin  Therapy to Attain NCEP ATP III Goals for LDL Cholesterol in Hypercholesterolemic Patients:  The Ezetimibe Added to Statin Effectiveness (EASE) Study.  Mayo Clinic Proceedings 2005; 80: 587-595.
• Pearson, TA. The Epidemiologic Basis for Population-wide Cholesterol Reduction in the Primary Prevention of Coronary Artery Disease. Am J Cardiol 2004; 94(9A):4F-8F.
• Pearson, TA.  Introduction.  Expanding Primary Prevention Efforts:  Allowing Consumers Access to Over-the-Counter Statins.  Am J Cardiol 2004; 94(9A):1F-3F.
• Pearson, TA. Positioning Technology to Serve Global Hearth Health: The 5th International Heart Health Conference. Eur. J. Card. Prevent. & Rehab 2004, Vol 11 No 4, 265-266.
• Pearson TA, Barker WH, Fisher SG, Trafton SH. Integration of cases in population-oriented prevention into a problem-based medical curriculum. Am J Prev Med 2003;24(4S):102-107.
• Pearson TA. Education and income: double-edged swords in the epidemiologic transition of cardiovascular disease. Ethnicity & Disease 2003;13:S2-158--S2-163.
• Pearson TA, Bazzarre TL, Daniels SR, et al. AHA guide for improving cardiovascular health at the community level. A statement for public health practitioners, healthcare providers, and health policy makers from the AHA Expert Panel on Population and Prevention Science.  Circulation 2003;107:645-51.
• Pearson TA, Mensah GA, Alexander RW, et al. Markers of inflammation and cardiovascular disease. Circulation 2003;107:499-511.
• Pearson TA, et al. American Heart Association Guidelines for the Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke: 2002 Update. Circulation 2002;106:388-91.
• Pearson TA. New tools for coronary risk assessment: What are their advantages and limitations? Circulation 2002;105:886-92.
• Pearson, TA, Stone EJ, Grundy S, McBride P, VanHorn L, and the NAA Collaborative Group. Translation of nutritional sciences into medical education: The Nutritional Academic Award Program. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2001;74:164-70.
• Pearson, TA. Capacity for research in minority health: The need for infrastructure plus will. American Journal of Medical Sciences. Nov 2001;322(5):243-247.
• Swanson JR, Pearson TA. Screening family members at high risk for coronary disease: Why isn't it done? Am J Prev Med 2001;20(1):50-55.
• Pearson TA, Wall S, Lewis C, Jenkins P, Nafziger A, Weinehall L. Describing the "Black Box" of community intervention: Lessons from community-wide cardiovascular disease prevention programs in the United States and Sweden. Scand J Public Health 2001;29 (Suppl 56):69-78.
• Pearson TA, Laurora I, Chu H, Kafonek S. The Lipid Treatment Assessment Project (L-TAP): A multicenter survey to evaluate the percentages of dyslipidemic patients receiving lipid-lowering therapy and achieving NCEP target LDL-C goals. Archives of Internal Medicine, 2000;160:459-467.
• Pearson TA, Boden WE. The imperative to raise low HDL-cholesterol. Evolving a better clinical strategy for the prevention and treatment of CHD. Amer J Cardiol 2000;86:1-4.