The people behind VLN

Dr. Nathan Connell is Chief of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, Vice Chair for BWFH Clinical Services & Education in the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Associate Director of the Boston Hemophilia Center, and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.His clinical practice focuses on disorders of thrombosis and hemostasis, with interest in the spectrum of clinical disorders related to the coagulation protein von Willebrand factor. In addition to his clinical practice within the Boston Hemophilia Center, he researches cost-effective strategies for diagnosis and management of hematologic disorders. A graduate of Cornell University, the University of Miami School of Medicine, and the Harvard School of Public Health, he completed internal medicine residency and hematology/oncology fellowship at Brown University. He is active with the American Society of Hematology, where he helped define and develop the field of systems-based hematology, which works to optimize care delivery systems for patients with blood disorders and he co-chaired the ASH ISTH NHF WFH Guidelines on the Diagnosis and Management of von Willebrand disease.

Jawed Fareed is a Professor of Pathology and Pharmacology and Director of the Hemostasis and Thrombosis Research Laboratories at Loyola University Medical Center, Chicago, IL. Dr. Fareed’s main research interest is the development of novel anticoagulant and antithrombotic drugs. He is recognized for his role in the preclinical development and initiating the first clinical trials of low-molecular-weight heparin and antithrombin agents in acute coronary syndromes. In addition, he has authored and co-authored more than 400 publications in this area.Dr. Fareed’s professional affiliations include membership on the expert panel on biologicals for the World Health Organization, and fellowships of the American Heart Association, the American College of Angiology, and the Indian College of Interventional Cardiology. He also is currently President of the South Asian Society of Atherosclerosis. Together with Professor Hans Klaus Breddin, Dr. Fareed founded the International Institute of Blood and Vascular Disorders, Frankfurt, Germany, of which he is currently the Associate Director.

Samuel Z. Goldhaber, MD, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and is the Associate Chief and Clinical Director of the division of Cardiovascular Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). He is Director of the BWH Thrombosis Research Group, medical co-director of the BWH Anticoagulation Management Service, and serves as Principal Investigator of a broad range of randomized clinical trials and observational studies related to the prevention, treatment, and epidemiology of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis, stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation, and prevention of recurrent myocardial infarction.Dr. Goldhaber is the President, Emeritus of the North American Thrombosis Forum. For his work on prevention of venous thromboembolism, Dr. Goldhaber has received the Certificate of Appreciation from the Surgeon General of the United States.He chairs the Steering Committee of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)-sponsored ATTRACT Trial of DVT treatment. Dr. Goldhaber is a member of the Steering Committee and is the U.S. National Coordinator of the GARFIELD Atrial Fibrillation cohort study and the GARFIELD Venous Thromboembolism cohort study. He is a Section Editor for Circulation and for Thrombosis and Haemostasis. He also has a busy practice of general cardiology, venous thromboembolism, and atrial fibrillation patients.

Dr. Piazza is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, a staff physician in the Cardiovascular Division, and Section Head of Vascular Medicine Division at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Piazza received his medical degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Massachusetts and completed his residency in internal medicine, chief medical residency, general cardiology fellowship, and advanced cardiovascular imaging fellowship at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. He also completed a national Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute-sponsored advanced fellowship in vascular medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Piazza’s research interests include the epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of venous thromboembolism, thrombophilia-associated infertility, computerized decision support to improve cardiovascular outcomes, and stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation.

Dr. Sasahara served as Senior Physician, Cardiovascular Division, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Professor of Medicine, Emeritus, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. He obtained his M.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and his Residency in Internal Medicine and Cardiology at Tufts, Harvard, and Yale University hospitals. He held the positions of Chief of Cardiology and Chief of Medicine at the Harvard-affiliated West Roxbury Veterans Affairs Medical Center for almost 30 years, as well as being Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. In 1987, he began a 10-year leave of absence and joined Abbott Laboratories as the first Venture Head, Thrombolysis Research. In 1993, he became Senior Venture Head and in 1995, Senior Medical Consultant, Research and Development, Pharmaceutical Products Division. His major research interests are in the field of thrombolysis, hemostasis, and thrombosis. His publications include approximately 300 scientific papers and 6 books.

Jeanine M. Walenga is a Professor in the Departments of Thoracic-Cardiovascular Surgery, and Pathology, Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, Illinois, USA, Co-Director of the Hemostasis and Thrombosis Research Laboratories, Director of the Clinical Laboratories for Coagulation, Near Patient Testing, and Urinalysis/Body Fluid Analysis. Dr. Walenga received her graduate and postgraduate education at the University of Illinois (Champaign and Chicago) and the Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris VI, Paris, France, in the fields of medical laboratory sciences and pharmacology. She is a certified medical technologist by the American Society of Clinical Pathologists and the National Certification Agency for Clinical Laboratory Scientists. Dr. Walenga’s areas of interest include mechanisms of thrombosis, heparin-induced thrombocytopenia, new antithrombotic drugs, and clinical laboratory testing. She participates in graduate and postgraduate teaching in the Stritch School of Medicine, basic and translational research, and clinical laboratory service. She has published over 200 manuscripts, book chapters, and invited papers, and she actively participates in national and international scientific and educational forums.