Assistant Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School

Associate Physician
Brigham and Women's Hospital

dmozaffa@hsph.harvard.edu

Areas of specific interest include:

1. Effects of omega-3 and trans fatty acids on cardiovascular outcomes, intermediary phenotypes, and metabolic and physiologic pathways. Current projects include a large NIH-funded study to evaluate relationships of plasma phospholipid fatty acid biomarkers with multiple intermediary CVD risk factors and disease outcomes; and OPERA, a large multinational RCT of fish oil for prevention of atrial fibrillation in the U.S., Italy, and Argentina.

2. Policy issues related to fat consumption in developed and developing nations. Projects include work on the American Heart Association Trans Fat Initiative; the Task Force on Trans Fat Free Americas, Pan American Health Organization; and the United Nations FAO / WHO Expert Consultation on Fats and Fatty Acids in Human Nutrition to develop global recommendations for consumption of fats and fatty acids.

3. Quantitative analyses of risks and benefits of fish consumption. Current projects include a large NIH-funded study to evaluate relationships and interactions between mercury exposure, selenium intake, fish consumption, and incidence of CHD and stroke in men and women.

4. Global cardiovascular health. Current projects include leadership of the Nutrition in Chronic Diseases Expert Group of the Gates Foundation / WHO Global Burden of Disease project, to define the worldwide burden of chronic diseases related to nutritional risk factors; the development of a randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of a polypill-polylifestyle intervention to reduce incidence of CVD and diabetes in developing/transitional nations; and collaboration on a Doris Duke planning grant to develop a comprehensive CVD prevention community-based intervention in Tanzania to reduce CVD risk and combat cardiometabolic consequences of the epidemiologic transition.

5. The combined impact of multiple dietary and other lifestyle behaviors on cardiovascular and metabolic risk. Current projects include the effects of clinical and lifestyle risk factors, including the Mediterranean diet, on incidence of diabetes and impaired fasting glucose following myocardial infarction; and the combined effects of lifestyle risk factors on incidence of diabetes in older adults.

Mozaffarian D, Lemaitre RN, Kuller LH, Burke GL, Tracy RP, Siscovick DS. Cardiac benefits of fish consumption may depend on the type of fish meal consumed: the Cardiovascular Health Study. Circulation. 2003 Mar 18;107(10):1372-7. [abstract]

Mozaffarian D, Kumanyika SK, Lamaitre RN, Olson JL, Burke GL, Siscovick DS. Cereal, fruit, and vegetable fiber intake and the risk of cardiovascular disease in elderly individuals. JAMA. 2003 Apr 2;289(13):1659-66. [abstract]

Mozaffarian D, Nye RG, Levy WC. Anemia predicts mortality in severe heart failure: the prospective randomized amlodipine survival evaluation (PRAISE). J Am Coll Cardiol. 2003 Jun 4;41(11):1933-9. [abstract]

Mozaffarian D, Bryson CL, Spertus J, McDonell MB, Fihn SD. Anginal symptoms consistently predict total mortality among outpatients with coronary artery disease.Am Heart J. 2003 Dec;146(6):1015-22. [abstract]

Erkkila AT, Lichtenstein AH, Mozaffarian D, Herrington DM. Fish intake is associated with a reduced progression of coronary artery atherosclerosis in postmenopausal women with coronary artery disease. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Sep;80(3):626-32. [abstract]

Mozaffarian D, Pischon T, Hankinson SE, Rifai N, Joshipura K, Willett WC, Rimm EB. Dietary intake of trans-fatty acids and systemic inflammation in women. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Apr;79(4):606-12. [abstract]

Mozaffarian D, Nye RG, Levy WC. Statin therapy is associated with lower mortality in severe heart failure. Am J Cardiol. 2004 May 1;93(9):1124-9. [abstract]

Mozaffarian D, Psaty BM, Rimm EB, Lemaitre RN, Burke GL, Lyles MF, Lefkowitz D, Siscovick DS. Fish intake and risk of incident atrial fibrillation. Circulation. 2004 Jul 27;110(4):368-73. Epub 2004 Jul 19. [abstract]

Mozaffarian D, Rimm EB, Herrington DM. Dietary fats, carbohydrate, and progression of coronary atherosclerosis among postmenopausal women. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004;80:1175-84. [abstract]

Mozaffarian D, Rimm EB, King IB, Lawler RL, McDonald GB, Levy WC. Trans fatty acids and systemic inflammation in heart failure. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Dec;80(6):1521-5. [abstract]

Ahmadi AJ, Saari JC, Mozaffarian D, Garwin GG, Tarbert KJ, Orcutt JC, Hargiss JL, Sires BS. Decreased Carotenoid Content in Preaponeurotic Orbital Fat of Patients With Involutional Ptosis. Ophthal Plast Reconstr Surg. 2005 Jan;21(1):46-51. [abstract]

Huehnergarth K, Mozaffarian D, Sullivan MD, Crane BA, Wilkinson C, Lawler RL, McDonald GB, Fishbein DP, Levy WC. Usefulness of relative lymphocyte count as an independent predictor of death/urgent transplant in heart failure. Am J Cardiol. 2005 Jun 15;95(12):1492-5. [abstract]

Erkkilä AT, Herrington DM, Mozaffarian D, Lichtenstein AH. Cereal fiber and whole-grain intake are associated with reduced progression of coronary-artery atherosclerosis in postmenopausal women with coronary artery disease. Am Heart J. 2005 Jul;150(1):94-101. [abstract]

Mozaffarian D, Ascherio A, Hu FB, Stampfer MJ, Willett WC, Siscovick DS, Rimm EB. Interplay between different polyunsaturated fatty acids and risk of coronary heart disease in men. Circulation. 2005 Jan 18;111(2):157-64. Epub 2005 Jan 3. [abstract]

Mozaffarian D, Longstreth WT, Lemaitre RN, Manolio T, Kuller LH, Burke GL, Siscovick DS. Fish consumption and stroke risk in elderly individuals: the Cardiovascular Health Study. Arch Intern Med. 2005 Jan 24;165(2):200-6. [abstract]

Mozaffarian D, Bryson CL, Lemaitre CL, Burke GL, Siscovick DS. Fish intake and risk of incident heart failure. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2005 Jun 21;45(12):2015-21. [abstract]

Mozaffarian D, Geelen A, Brouwer IA, Geleijnse JM, Zock PL, Katan MB. The effect of fish oil on heart rate in humans: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Circulation. 2005 Sep 27;112(13):1945-52. Epub 2005 Sep 19. [abstract]

Mozaffarian D, Minami E, Letterer RA, Lawler RL, McDonald GB, Levy WC. The effects of atorvastatin (10 mg) on systemic inflammation in heart failure. Am J Cardiol. 2005 Dec 15;96(12):1699-704. Epub 2005 Oct 28. [abstract]

Mozaffarian D. Electron-beam computed tomography for coronary calcium: a useful test to screen for coronary heart disease? JAMA. 2005 Dec 14;294(22):2897-901. No abstract available.

Ioannou GN, Weiss NS, Boyko EJ, Mozaffarian D, Lee SP. Elevated serum alanine aminotransferase activity and calculated risk of coronary heart disease in the United States. Hepatology. 2006 May;43(5):1145-51. [abstract]

Mozaffarian D, Gottdiener JS, Siscovick DS. Intake of tuna or other broiled or baked fish vs. fried fish and cardiac structure, function, and hemodynamics. Am J Cardiol. 2006 Jan 15;97(2):216-22. Epub 2005 Nov 21. [abstract]

Levy WC, Mozaffarian D, Linker DT, Sutradhar SC, Anker SD, Cropp AB, Anand I, Maggioni A, Burton P, Sullivan MD, Pitt B, Poole-Wilson PA, Mann DL, Packer M. The Seattle Heart Failure Model: Prediction of survival in heart failure. Circulation. 2006 Mar 21;113(11):1424-33. Epub 2006 Mar 13. [abstract]

Mozaffarian D, Katan MB, Ascherio A, Stampfer MJ, Willett WC. Trans fatty acids and cardiovascular disease. N Engl J Med. 2006 Apr 13;354(15):1601-13. Review. No abstract available.

Mozaffarian D, Prineas RJ, Stein PK, Siscovick DS. Dietary fish and n-3 fatty acid intake and cardiac electrocardiographic parameters in humans. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2006 Aug 1;48(3):478-84. Epub 2006 Jul 12. [abstract]

Lemaitre RN, King IB, Mozaffarian D, Sotoodehnia N, Rea TD, Kuller LH, Tracy RP, Siscovick DS. Plasma phospholipid trans fatty acids, fatal ischemic heart disease, and sudden cardiac death in older adults. The Cardiovascular Health Study. Circulation. 2006 Jul 18;114(3):209-15. Epub 2006 Jul 3. [abstract]