NAME: Thadhani, Ravi I., MD, MPH

eRA COMMONS USER NAME (credential, e.g., agency login): rthadhani

POSITION TITLE: Chief Academic Officer, Mass General Brigham

EDUCATION/TRAINING (Begin with baccalaureate or other initial professional education, such as nursing, include postdoctoral training and residency training if applicable. Add/delete rows as necessary.)

A.        Personal Statement

As the Chief Academic Officer of Mass General Brigham, Dr. Thadhani manages a ~ $2.3B research enterprise. He oversees several key system-wide departments at MGB, including Human Subjects Affairs, the Clinical Trials Office, Research Management, the MGB Biobank, and Graduate Medical Education comprising over 2400 residents and fellows across MGB. For ~25 years Dr. Thadhani managed a research laboratory with a focus on kidney disease and, importantly, developing diagnostics and therapeutics for women with complications in pregnancy. Together with his basic science colleague, he discovered, developed, and translated to the clinic novel diagnostics and therapeutics for women with severe preterm preeclampsia. He has published over 300 manuscripts and has been inducted into severalhonor societies (American Clinical and Climatological Association, American Society of Clinical Investigation, Association of American Physicians). He is a standing member of FDA’s Cardio-Renal Division Advisory Panel and on the Board of Directors of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard in Cambridge, MA.

B.        Positions and Honors

Positions and Employment

1991-1992       Intern in Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital

1992-1994       Assistant Resident in Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital

1996                            Chief Resident in Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital

1994-1996                   Clinical and Research Fellow in Medicine (Nephrology), Massachusetts General Hospital

1994-1996                   Research Fellow in Medicine, Harvard Medical School

1997-2018                   Associate Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital

1998-2001      Instructor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

2001-2004                   Associate Program Director, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Clinical Research Center

2001-2018      Senior Scientist, Department of Obstetrics, Massachusetts General Hospital

2002-2004                   Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

2002-2013                   Director of Clinical Research in Nephrology, Massachusetts General Hospital

2005-2012                   Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

2005-2010                   Co-Director, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Clinical Research Center

2010-2012                   Senior Clinical Research Advisor to the Chief Scientific Officer at Partners Healthcare

2011-2013                   Co-Chair, Partners Research IT Committee at Partners Healthcare

2012-2017                   Associate Director, reporting to the Chief Academic Officer, Partners Healthcare

2012-                           Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

2013-2017                   Chief of Nephrology, Massachusetts General Hospital

2015-2017                   Executive Director, Clinical Trials Office, Partners Healthcare

2017                Clinical Consultant, Center for Environmental Health Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2017-2019                   Vice Dean for Research and Education, Cedars Sinai Medical Center

2019-                           Chief Academic Officer, Mass General Brigham

2019-                           Dean for Academic Programs at Mass General Brigham, Harvard Medical School

Academic and Professional Honors

1987                University of Guam Professional Student Award

1987                Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude, University of Notre Dame

1990                Alpha Omega Alpha, University of Pennsylvania

1991                Nathan and Paulin Pincus Prize, Outstanding Achievement as a Clinician,

                        University of Pennsylvania

1991                Alfred Stengel MD Memorial Prize, Academic Excellence for Academic Medicine,

                        University of Pennsylvania

2000                Harvard Medical School Class of 2000 Clinical Teaching Award

2000                Harvard Medical School, Daniel D. Federman Outstanding Clinical Educator Award

2008                American Society of Clinical Investigation, Inducted Member

2008                American Epidemiological Society, Inducted Member

2008                Honorary Degree, Distinguished Professor, Panamerican University, Mexico City, Mexico

2009                Appreciation Award, Guam Medical Association 2009 Annual Event

2009                Appreciation Award, American Society of Nephrology Annual Meeting Planning Committee               

2011                            Priscilla Kincaid-Smith Visiting Professor, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Australia

2011                            Kathleen Valles Visiting Professor, St. George’s Hospital, London, England

2011                            Recognition Award, American Nephrologists of Indian Origin

2011                            Jaime Herrera Acosta Honorary Lecture, Instituto Mexicano de Investigaciones Nefrologicas

2012                            Shaul Massry Distinguished Lecture Award, National Kidney Foundation

2012                            Saulo Klahr Lecture Award, Department of Medicine, Washington University of St. Louis

2013                            Dr. KS Chugh Oration Award, Annual Conference of the International Society of Nephrology,                                                      New Delhi 

2014                            Kleeman Visiting Scholar, UCLA Annual Visiting Scholar, Los Angeles, California  

2014                            Helen Randall Dunham Cardio-Renal Lecturer, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

2014                            Alumni Award of Merit from the Harvard School of Public Health

2014                            Outstanding Speaker Award, American Association of Clinical Chemistry

2015                            Association of American Physicians, Inducted Member

2015                            American Society of Nephrology, Robert W. Schrier Endowed Lectureship

2016                Honors for Outstanding Contributions in Nephrology Research & Education, International Society of Nephrology & American Nephrologists of Indian Origin

2016                Irene Tamagna Honorary Lecture in Hypertension, George Washington University, Department of Medicine, Washington, DC

2017                Charles Austin MD Visiting Professor Honorary Lectureship, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, TX

2017                            Harold Amos Faculty Diversity Award, Harvard Medical School/Harvard School of Dental                                                                         Medicine

2019                            American Clinical and Climatological Association, Inducted Member

2020                            John P. Peters Award, American Society of Nephrology

2021                Gregory Pincus Memorial Award (Shared with Dr. Karumanchi) for Pioneering work in Women’s Health 

C.        Contributions to Science

My research efforts are divided into two main areas: Pregnancy and Dialysis.

Pregnancy studies center on human research supporting recent findings emerging from basic science collaborations in the area of angiogenic factors and preeclampsia. I have performed pilot and proof-of-concept studies, retrospective and prospective studies, and planned and performed interventional trials. This work has been funded by several federal and foundation grants. A diagnostic test we developed is currently in the clinic in Europe. My recent focus is on a therapy for preeclampsia, and I am actively performing first-in-human randomized trials based on extensive pilot studies (Circulation 2011). I have several grants, invited speaking events, book chapters, and publications in this area, including invited commentaries. We recently received funding (Kaneka Pharmaceuticals) to perform a pilot clinical trial to obtain safety and efficacy data prior to a registrational study.

1. Thadhani R, Kisner T, Hagmann H, Bossung V, Noack S, Schaarschmidt W, Jank A, Kribs A, Cornely O, Kreyssig C, Hemphill L, Rigby AC, Khedkar S, Lindner TH, Mallmann P, Stepan H, Karumanchi SA, Benzing T. A Pilot Study of Extracorporeal Removal of Soluble Fms-like Tyrosine Kinase 1 in Preeclampsia. Circulation 2011;124:940-50.
2. Thadhani R, Hagmann H, Schaarschmidt W, Roth B, Cingoez T, Karumanchi SA, Wenger J, Lucchesi KJ, Tamez H, Lindner T, Fridman A, Thome U, Kribs A, Danner M, Hamacher S, Mallmann P, Stepan H, Benzing T. Removal of Soluble Fms-Like Tyrosine Kinase-1 by Dextran Sulfate Apheresis in Preeclampsia. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2016 Mar;27(3):903-13.

In dialysis, I examined the effect of vitamin D in the survival of chronic hemodialysis patients. These series of observational studies have included thousands of dialysis patients throughout the U.S. Our studies have been confirmed by over 25 independent investigators world-wide. Clinical practices (academic and non-academic) have implemented practice patterns aligned with this work, and national and international practice guidelines have highlighted these studies. Acknowledging the observational nature of this work, however, I pursued animal models examining the cardiac effects of vitamin D with basic science collaborators. Our series of human and animal experimental studies led to an investigator initiated (Thadhani, PI) multicenter multinational (> 60 centers world-wide) clinical trial in patients with kidney disease (e.g., PRIMO – Paricalcitol benefits in Renal Insufficiency associated cardiac Morbidity, clinicaltrials.gov NCT00497146). PRIMO is the first randomized trial in nephrology to test the hypothesis that active vitamin D therapy favorably affects cardiac hypertrophy and diastolic dysfunction. We coordinated the entire study and our top-line results were recently published (JAMA 2012). Several additional national and international studies including follow-up studies in the general population (e.g., VITAL) are ongoing.

1. Thadhani R, Appelbaum E, Pritchett Y, Chang Y, Wenger J, Tamez H, Bhan I, Agarwal R, Zoccali C, Wanner C, Lloyd-Jones D, Cannata J, Thompson B, Andress D, Zhang W, Packham D, Singh B, Zehnder D, Shah A, Pachika A, Manning W, Solomon S. Vitamin D Therapy and Cardiac Structure and Function in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease; The PRIMO Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA 2012;307:674-84.
2. Teng M, Wolf M, Lowrie E, Ofsthun N, Lazarus JM, Thadhani R. Survival of patients undergoing hemodialysis with paricalcitol or calcitriol therapy. N Engl J Med 2003;349:446-56.

We have also pursued randomized trials testing the benefit of nutritional vitamin D in dialysis patients (DIVINE, clinicaltrials.gov NCT00892099). Finally, we recently put forward the concept that Bio-available Vitamin D is physiologically the important metabolite to determine vitamin D status (NEJM 2013).

1. Powe CE, Evans MK, Wenger J, Zonderman AB, Tamez H, Berg A, Bhan I, Karumanchi SA, Powe NR, Thadhani R. Vitamin D Binding Protein and Vitamin D Status in White and Black Americans. N Eng J Med 2013 Nov 21;369(21):1991-2000.
2. Berg AH, Karumanchi SA, Thadhani R. Vitamin D-Binding Protein Deficiency and Homozygous Deletion of the GC Gene. N Engl J Med. 2019 Jun 27;380(26):2584-2585.

Complete List of Published Work:  

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=thadhani+r

D.        Additional Information: Research Support and/or Scholastic Performance

Ongoing Research Support

PRAECIS Study                                                                     (Thadhani, MPI)                                                                                  2018-2023

Cedars Sinai Medical Center & ThermoFisher Scientific Brahms Biomarkers France

Preeclampsia Risk Assessment: Evaluation of Cut-offs to Improve Stratification. Multicenter study to validate biomarkers that can predict development of preeclampsia with severe features.

Role: Principal Investigator (MPI)

$1,500,000 (direct costs)

Completed Research Support  

IRO90262                                           (Thadhani, PI)                                     10/20/10-10/19/20     

University of Alberta (Canadian Institutes of Health Research)       

Clinical, Biochemical and Genetic Risk Factors for CAC and Left Ventricular Hypertrophy (LVH)

(Longitudinal US Canadian Incident Dialysis Study: LUCID Study MPI Proposal)

The major goal of this project is to examine genetic risk factors for CAC and left ventricular hypertrophy in end stage renal disease.

Role: Principal Investigator

R01 DK088762-06                              (de Boer, PI)                                       02/24/16-01/31/20     

NIH/NIDDK                                        

Randomized trial of vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids for diabetic kidney disease

The major goal of this project is to evaluate the long-term effects of vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids on DKD.

Role: Co-Investigator

R01 DK094486-06                              (Thadhani, PI)                                    07/17/12-02/28/19     

NIH/NIDDK                                        

Redefining Vitamin D Deficiency: The Role of Bioavailable Vitamin D

The major goal of this project is to determine how bioavailable vitamin D alters the definition of vitamin D deficiency in a large diverse US population.

T32DK007540-31A                             (Thadhani, PI)                                     07/01/17–12/01/17               

NIH/NIDDK                                                                 

Training for Multidisciplinary Research in Nephrology

The major goal of this project is to offer comprehensive multidisciplinary research training to four highly selected postdoctoral trainees in Nephrology.

Role: Principal Investigator

K24 DK094872-05                              (Thadhani, PI)                                    04/15/12-03/31/17     

NIH/NIDDK                                        

Patient Oriented Studies of Vitamin D in Chronic Kidney Disease

The major goal of this project is to mentor Nephrology fellows interested in becoming patient oriented investigators.

Role: Principal Investigator

Contract                                              (Thadhani, PI)                                     09/29/16-12/01/17     

Kaneka Corporation                          

Coordinating Center Agreement: Removal of Anti-Angiogenic Proteins in Preeclampsia before Delivery: 3^rd Cohort (RAAPID-3)

The major goal of this project is to test whether dextran sulfate apheresis removes sFlt-1 and is safe in pregnancy.

Role: Principal Investigator

R01 HL112746-03                             (Thadhani & Wang, PI)            03/01/12-02/28/16

NIH/NHLBI                                         

Impact of Vitamin D supplementation on cardiac status and function

The major goal of this project was to perform an ancillary study of cardiac structure and function (echocardiogram) among a subset of participants in randomized trial (VITAL) of vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids taking place throughout the U.S.

Role: Principal Investigator