Dr. J. Thomas Bigger Lecture Series

Dr. Cheryl R. Clark is a physician, health equity researcher, and academic leader whose work focuses on how social and environmental conditions, such as structural racism, neighborhood safety, and economic inequality, influence health outcomes. She serves as Associate Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine and Primary Care at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and is an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School. As a practicing hospitalist, she combines direct clinical care with impactful research on chronic disease disparities in underrepresented communities.

Dr. Clark co-chairs the NIH All of Us Research Program’s Social Determinants of Health Task Force and helped design its national survey to gather lived-experience data from diverse populations. Her research draws on large datasets like the All of Us Researcher Workbench and the Jackson Heart Study to analyze patterns in disease risk, especially cardiovascular disease and obesity. She also co-leads “TechQuity,” a collaboration with IBM Watson Health to develop digital solutions for workplace health equity. At Harvard, she founded the Leadership for Health Equity program to mentor future equity champions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she led Brigham’s COVID Equity Response Team, addressing urgent community needs including food access, testing, and vaccinations. Her work blends data, policy, and human-centered leadership to advance systemic change.

Dr. Ken Mandl is a physician-scientist and pioneer in biomedical informatics, serving as Director of the Computational Health Informatics Program at Boston Children’s Hospital and the Donald A.B. Lindberg Professor of Pediatrics and Biomedical Informatics at Harvard Medical School. Trained in pediatrics and pediatric emergency medicine, Dr. Mandl has made foundational contributions to digital health, real-time biosurveillance, and patient-centered data systems.

A member of the National Academy of Medicine, he co-chairs its Digital Health Action Collaborative and has played a pivotal role in shaping health data interoperability through initiatives like the SMART platform and the 21st Century Cures Act. His work bridges individual and population health, promoting systems that empower patients and scale innovation across the healthcare landscape. Dr. Mandl has received numerous honors, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and the Lindberg Award for Innovation in Informatics. He has advised leaders at the CDC and NIH and is widely recognized for both his scientific impact and his mentorship of the next generation of clinical informatics leaders.

Dr. Katrina Armstrong led Columbia University’s medical campus as the Chief Executive Officer of CUIMC, which includes the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S), the School of Nursing, the College of Dental Medicine, and the Mailman School of Public Health. She also is Executive Vice President for Health and Biomedical Sciences for Columbia University and Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. As VP&S dean, Dr. Armstrong leads the nation’s second oldest medical school and the first to award an MD degree.

Trained as an epidemiologist, Dr. Armstrong is an internationally recognized investigator in health disparities, quality of care, and cancer prevention and outcomes, an award-winning teacher, and a practicing general internist. She has served on multiple advisory panels for academic and federal organizations and has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Association of American Physicians, and the American Society for Clinical Investigation. Before joining Columbia, Dr. Armstrong was the Jackson Professor of Clinical Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Chair of the Department of Medicine and Physician-in-Chief of Massachusetts General Hospital, and Professor of Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Before joining Harvard, she was Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine, Associate Director of the Abramson Cancer Center, and Co-Director of the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a graduate of Yale University (BA degree in architecture), Johns Hopkins (MD degree), and the University of Pennsylvania (MS degree in clinical epidemiology). She completed her residency training in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins.

Dr. Clyde Yancy is a nationally acclaimed cardiologist, health equity advocate, and academic leader. He serves as Vice Dean for Diversity & Inclusion at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, where he is also Chief of Cardiology, Associate Director of the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute, and Magerstadt Endowed Professor of Medicine. A native of Louisiana, Dr. Yancy holds appointments in both Medicine and Medical Social Sciences, reflecting his commitment to bridging clinical excellence with structural change in health care.

Dr. Yancy’s research spans heart failure, clinical guideline development, outcomes science, and disparities in care. He has authored over 600 peer-reviewed publications, holds an H-index above 100, and is consistently recognized among the world’s most cited scientists. He serves as Deputy Editor of JAMA Cardiology and holds editorial roles across leading cardiovascular journals. A past President of the American Heart Association and a Master of the American College of Cardiology, Dr. Yancy has chaired national guidelines and led major initiatives on inclusion and equity in cardiology. His government service includes appointments with the NIH, FDA, and HHS. Elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2016, Dr. Yancy has received numerous lifetime achievement awards for research, mentorship, and leadership in cardiovascular medicine and diversity.

Dr. Mitchell Elkind is a tenured Professor of Neurology and Epidemiology at Columbia University, where he serves as Chief of the Division of Neurology Clinical Outcomes Research and Population Sciences (Neuro CORPS) and Director of the Irving Institute Hub Liaison Team to the NIH’s Trial Innovation Network. A renowned stroke expert, Dr. Elkind served as President of the American Heart Association from 2020 to 2021, championing efforts to reduce cardiovascular disparities and expand research in brain health and stroke prevention.

Dr. Elkind received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and completed clinical training in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and in neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital. He holds a master’s in epidemiology from Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health and completed his fellowship in vascular neurology and neuroepidemiology under Dr. Ralph Sacco. His research focuses on stroke prevention, vascular aging, atrial cardiopathy, and immune mechanisms in stroke. He leads major NIH-funded studies including the ARCADIA trial, NOMAS, NeuSTART, and LIMITS. Dr. Elkind is also deeply committed to mentoring and training, directing NIH-supported residency and fellowship programs, and founding the Stroke journal’s early-career section. A leader in shaping clinical guidelines, he has served multiple terms on the AHA/ASA national boards and scientific committees.

Dr. Nir Uriel was born and grew up in Israel. He earned his Bachelor of Science and medical degrees at the Ben Gurion University of the Negev. He completed his internship in internal medicine at Assaf Harofeh Medical Center, followed by four years as a physician in the Israeli Defense Force, attaining the rank of Major. He returned to Assaf Harofeh Medical Center to complete his residency and a cardiology fellowship, followed by a year on the medical staff. In 2008, Dr. Uriel began fellowships in cardiology, heart failure and transplant, and mechanical circulatory support at Columbia University. In 2013, he added a master's degree in biostatistics and was named "teacher of the year" by the Columbia University cardiology fellows. One year later, he was recruited to the University of Chicago where he helped to build their heart failure program and, over the past 5 years, led them to become a top heart failure institution in the nation.

Dr. Uriel is considered an international leader in clinical care for patients with heart failure and/or those who require transplantation as well as an expert in the use and management of Left Ventricular Assist Devices (LVADs) and other mechanical circulatory support systems. Dr. Uriel returned to Columbia University Irving Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in August 2019, to direct the NYP Heart Failure, Heart Transplant & Mechanical Circulatory Support Programs.

Dr. Hugh Watkins is the Radcliffe Professor of Medicine and Head of the Radcliffe Department of Medicine at the University of Oxford, where he leads one of the UK’s largest and most interdisciplinary medical research departments. His leadership spans a wide range of scientific fields, including cardiovascular medicine, endocrinology, molecular biology, immunology, and regenerative medicine, with a strong focus on translational research from bench to bedside.

A global leader in cardiovascular genetics, Dr. Watkins has made landmark contributions to understanding the genetic basis of inherited cardiac diseases. His work on hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) redefined the field by identifying its genetic underpinnings and introducing genetic testing as a clinical standard of care. His research revealed how mutations in myofilament proteins disrupt heart muscle function, paving the way for targeted therapies now in clinical trials. Dr. Watkins also plays a leading role in global efforts to identify genetic risk factors for coronary artery disease, chairing major consortia such as CARDIOGRAMplusC4D. His team has uncovered key risk variants, including the causal role of lipoprotein(a). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, a NIHR Senior Investigator, and recipient of the American Heart Association’s Paul Dudley White Lecture honor.

Dr. Daniel M. Bloomfield is Senior Vice President of Global Clinical Development at Merck Research Laboratories, where he leads the Cardiometabolic and Women’s Health programs and provides strategic oversight for Merck’s R&D operations in China. He oversees a broad portfolio that includes major therapeutics such as Januvia, Zetia/Vytorin, ertugliflozin (with Pfizer), and Adempas and vericiguat (with Bayer), as well as key initiatives in contraception and fertility. Since joining Merck in 2003, Dr. Bloomfield has held a range of leadership roles, including Chair of the Early Development Research Committee, Head of Global Project Management, and Chief of Staff to CEO Kenneth C. Frazier.

A cardiologist by training, Dr. Bloomfield was previously on faculty at Columbia University, where he conducted NIH-funded research on cardiac electrophysiology, syncope, and sudden cardiac death risk. He created Merck’s first Cardiac Organ Specific Safety Board and co-founded the Cardiac Safety Research Consortium, a public-private partnership with the FDA. Internationally recognized for his work on cardiac safety, he also served as Rapporteur for the ICH E14 implementation group. Dr. Bloomfield earned his B.A. in Chemistry from Haverford College, studied Social Anthropology at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, and received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. Beyond medicine, he has founded and supported numerous philanthropic initiatives, including the American-South African Scholarship Association, the Friends of the Mandela Rhodes Foundation (USA), and SEED Impact, and serves on the Executive Committee of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.

Professor A. John Camm is an internationally renowned cardiologist and academic leader whose pioneering work has shaped the field of cardiac arrhythmias and electrophysiology. He is the former Sir Ronald Bodley Scott Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital and served as the Prudential Professor of Clinical Cardiology and Chairman of Medicine at St. George’s Hospital Medical School in London. With a clinical and research career spanning decades, Professor Camm has authored more than 1,400 peer-reviewed papers, over 350 reviews, and numerous influential cardiology textbooks, including Diseases of the Heart and the ESC Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine.

His clinical expertise includes arrhythmias, heart failure, pacemakers, and cardiovascular drug safety. He has held leadership roles across major cardiology societies, serving as President of the British Cardiovascular Society, Chair of the ESC Atrial Fibrillation Guidelines Task Force, and co-chair of international guideline committees on ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. He is also the founder and President of the Arrhythmia Alliance and the Atrial Fibrillation Association, and a vocal advocate for arrhythmia-related charities and stroke prevention across the UK and Europe. Professor Camm is Editor-in-Chief of Europace and Clinical Cardiology, and sits on the boards of multiple leading journals. He is a Fellow of the Royal Colleges of Physicians, the Academy of Medical Sciences, and several international cardiology societies. His contributions have been recognized with the ESC Gold Medal, the Mackenzie Medal, and appointments including Queen’s Honorary Physician and Commander of the Venerable Order of St. John.