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Internationally recognized cardiologist and researcher, Thomas L. Force, M.D., has been named clinical director of the Center for Translational Medicine, an initiative of the Department of Medicine of Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia.

Dr. Force joins Jefferson from Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, where he was professor of Medicine and investigator, Molecular Cardiology Research Institute, Tufts-New England Medical Center. He also served on the medical staff at Tufts-New England Medical Center.

In welcoming Dr. Force, Arthur Feldman, M.D., Ph.D., Magee Professor and Chair, Department of Medicine at Jefferson Medical College, said he brings a strong and varied background in clinical cardiology which will both enhance and complement the ongoing research in the Center for Translational Medicine.

“His comprehensive range of clinical experience coupled with his research strengths provides the necessary insights to lead the Center’s mission of bringing research projects from bench to bedside,” Dr. Feldman adds.

At Jefferson, the Center for Translational Medicine aims to bridge basic scientific discoveries with physicians’ needs for novel therapeutic approaches to their patients’ complex diseases. At the forefront of academic health care, the Center focuses on cutting-edge basic molecular biomedical research and its translation into the most efficient and tailored forms of diagnosis and treatment as well as modes of prevention.

The Center for Translational Medicine is the focal point for research in the Department of Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University. The Center relies on Jefferson clinicians as a source of patients and information, and shares findings with the Department of Medicine, which handles related clinical trials. The Center in turn collaborates on these trials.

Dr. Force’s research interests include the molecular mechanisms regulating cardiac hypertrophy, a process of maladaptive growth of the heart that if unchecked, usually leads to heart failure. He also studies basic mechanisms that may allow heart muscle cells to survive ischemic injury that occurs during myocardial infarction. He is currently principal investigator for several National Institutes of Health grants that support this research.

A recipient of a bachelor of arts degree, Phi Beta Kappa, in 1973 from Harvard College, Dr. Force earned a doctor of medicine degree in 1978 from Harvard Medical School.

He completed a residency in internal medicine at the University of Vermont in 1981 and in 1984, completed clinical and research fellowships in Medicine/Cardiology at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, West Roxbury VA Medical Center in Boston.

In 1986, he was named medical director of the Cardiovascular Health Center, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston. During his 15 years at MGH, he was also director of the Stress Testing Laboratories in addition to overseeing his research lab. During that time he became an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association (AHA).

In 2000, he moved to Tufts-New England Medical Center/Tufts University School of Medicine to become an investigator in the Molecular Cardiology Research Institute. In 2003, he was named associate director of the Training Program in Cardiovascular Research.

Dr. Force is a member of a number of professional and scientific societies including the Basic Science Council of the AHA and the Paul Dudley White Society. In addition, he is on the Executive Council of the Heart Failure Society of America and was co-chair of the Program Committee for the Society’s annual Scientific Meeting in 2003 and 2004.

He has published widely in a variety of peer-reviewed publications. He serves on the editorial boards of Circulation, The Journal of Biological Chemistry and is an associate editor for The Journal of Cardiac Failure, the official journal of the Heart Failure Society of America and Japan.

A popular invited speaker at scientific meetings and conferences worldwide,

Dr. Force has spoken at the European Society of Cardiology’s Heart Failure Society meetings in Wroclaw, Poland, in 2004 and Lisbon, Portugal, in 2005. He will speak at a joint session of the American College of Cardiology and German Cardiology Society in Manheim, Germany in 2006. At recent meetings, he also discussed: “Identifying Novel Strategies for Treating Heart Failure,” at the Sixth and Seventh Annual Toronto International Heart Failure Summit, and “GSK-3 ß : Mechanisms of Regulation and Identification of Growth-Regulatory Targets” at the AHA Council on Basic Cardiovascular Sciences: Stress Signals, Molecular Targets, and the Genome.