Academic Background

Doctorate

PhD, Johns Hopkins University
School of Hygiene and Public Health, 1978

Fellowship

Postdoctoral fellow in Cardiovascular Epidemiology
Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health

Robert J. Goldberg, Ph.D.
Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology
Director of Masters of Science and Clinical Investigation Program
Areas of interest: cardiovascular epidemiology, preventive cardiology, epidemiology

Clinical/Research Interests

I have been actively involved in community-based studies of the natural history and primary and secondary prevention of coronary heart disease, heart failure, and deep venous thrombosis for more than 2 decades. Myself and several clinical researchers established the Worcester Heart Attack Study in the early 1980's. Through the current period of federal funding support, we are examining more than 3 decade long trends (1975-2007) in the incidence rates, in-hospital and long-term survival, and therapeutic approaches used in the management of more than 14,000 greater Worcester residents hospitalized with acute myocardial infarction at all medical centers in the Worcester metropolitan area. I also presently serve as the Co-PI on a population-based surveillance project that is examining changing trends in the incidence, hospital and long-term case-fatality rates, and management practices of in and outpatients with venous thromboembolism among residents of the Worcester metropolitan area. We are also receiving funding support from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to develop community-wide hospital and outpatient surveillance for heart failure in greater Worcester residents. I also serve as the senior epidemiologist for the Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events (GRACE) Project which is a large multinational coronary disease registry examining differences in the management practices, hospital, and post-discharge outcomes of more than 50,000 patients hospitalized in 14 countries with an acute coronary syndrome.

In collaboration with several investigators from the UMMS, we have recently received funding support from the NIH to initiate two observational epidemiologic studies, one in the area of acute heart failure and the other in the setting of venous thrombosis in the elderly. In the heart failure (HF) project, we are studying the symptoms patients with acute HF report experiencing, their extent of delay in seeking medical care after the onset of these acute symptoms, and factors facilitating, or serving as obstacles to, the seeking of medical care in a timely manner. In a recently funded study, we have begun the process of recruiting patients with venous thrombosis from the greater Worcester area, and a similar number of patients from the Hamilton, Ontario, area, to study the natural history of venous thrombosis in the elderly. This cohort of patients will be followed over a 2 year period for the development of a variety of study endpoints.