Jeffrey M. Drazen was the

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of ''

The New England Journal of Medicine ''The New England Journal of Medicine'' (''NEJM'') is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. Founded in 1812, the journal is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals. Its 2023 impact factor w ...

'' from 2000 to 2019. He currently holds the positions of senior

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

at the

Brigham and Women’s Hospital Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH or The Brigham) is a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and the largest hospital in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Along with Massachusetts General Hospital, it is one of the two ...

, Distinguished Parker B. Francis Professor of Medicine at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

, professor of

physiology Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...

at the

Harvard School of Public Health The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school at Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. It was named after Hong Kong entrepreneur Chan Tseng-hsi in 2014 following a US$350 ...

, and adjunct professor of medicine at the

Boston University School of Medicine The Boston University School of Medicine (formally the Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine) is the medical school of Boston University, a private university, private research university in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded in ...

. He is the recipient of honorary degrees from the

University of Ferrara The University of Ferrara () is the main university of the city of Ferrara in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. In the years prior to the First World War the University of Ferrara, with more than 500 students, was the best attended of ...

, the

University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; , ''Ethnikó kai Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the University of Athens (UoA), is a public university in Athens, Greece, with various campuses alo ...

, the

University of Modena The University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (), located in Modena and Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, is one of the oldest universities in Europe, founded in 1175, with a population of 20,000 students. The medieval university disappeared b ...

and the

University of Paris-Sud Paris-Sud University (), also known as the University of Paris — XI (or as the Orsay Faculty of Sciences, University of Paris before 1971), was a French research university distributed among several campuses in the southern suburbs of Paris, ...

Biography

Born and raised in

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

, Missouri, Drazen majored in

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...

and graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1972. It was at Tufts that he met Erica Lawson Coburn, whom he later married. He performed his

medical internship A medical (or surgical) intern is a physician in training who has completed medical school and has a medical degree, but does not yet have a license to practice medicine unsupervised. Medical education generally ends with a period of practical tr ...

and

residency Residency may refer to: * Artist-in-residence, a program to sponsor the residence and work of visual artists, writers, musicians, etc. * Concert residency, a series of concerts performed at one venue * Domicile (law), the act of establishing or m ...

Peter Bent Brigham Hospital Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH or The Brigham) is a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and the largest hospital in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Along with Massachusetts General Hospital, it is one of the two ...

and was a clinical fellow and a research fellow at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. Thereafter, he served as chief of

Pulmonary Medicine Pulmonology (, , from Latin ''pulmō, -ōnis'' "lung" and the Greek suffix "study of"), pneumology (, built on Greek πνεύμων "lung") or pneumonology () is a medical specialty that deals with diseases involving the respiratory tract.

at the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, chief of the combined Pulmonary Divisions of the Beth Israel and Brigham and Women’s Hospitals, and then as chief of Pulmonary Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Other work

Drazen has worked with the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

in a variety of capacities, including membership of study sections, the Pulmonary Disease Advisory Council, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Advisory Council, and the National Library of Medicine Public Access Working Group. He has also served on the Veterans’ Administration National Research Advisory Council. Drazen is an elected member of the

American Society for Clinical Investigation The American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), established in 1908, is one of the oldest and most respected medical honor societies in the United States. Organization and purpose The ASCI is an honorary society to which more than 2,800 p ...

, the

Association of American Physicians The Association of American Physicians (AAP) is an honorary medical society founded in 1885 by the Canadian physician Sir William Osler and six other distinguished physicians of his era for "the advancement of scientific and practical medicine ...

, the Inter-Urban Clinical Club and the

National Academy of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), known as the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineerin ...

. He co-chaired the Institute of Medicine's Forum on Drug Discovery, Development, and Translation for 6 years and was a member of the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

’s Scientific Advisory Group on Clinical Trials Registration. An active researcher in the field of

pulmonary medicine Pulmonology (, , from Latin ''pulmō, -ōnis'' "lung" and the Greek suffix "study of"), pneumology (, built on Greek πνεύμων "lung") or pneumonology () is a medical specialty that deals with diseases involving the respiratory tract.

, Drazen defined the role of novel endogenous chemical agents in

asthma Asthma is a common long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wh ...

. This led to four new licensed pharmaceuticals for asthma. Drazen has published over 600 papers, editorials, and review articles and has edited six books, including ''Cecil Medicine'' and ''Asthma and COPD''. Drazen has served on the editorial boards of a variety of journals, including the ''

Journal of Applied Physiology The ''Journal of Applied Physiology'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal of physiology published by the American Physiological Society. The journal was established in 1948, and is currently edited by Sue Bodine. According to the ''Journa ...

'', the ''

American Journal of Physiology The ''American Journal of Physiology'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal on physiology published by the American Physiological Society. Vols. for 1898–1941 and 1948-56 include the Society's proceedings, including abstracts of papers present ...

'', ''

Pulmonary Pharmacology ''Pulmonary Pharmacology & Therapeutics'' is a medical journal published by Elsevier that covers research on the pharmacotherapy of lung disease The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in many animals, including humans. ...

'', ''

Experimental Lung Research ''Experimental Lung Research'' is a peer-reviewed medical journal that publishes original articles in all fields of respiratory tract anatomy, biology, developmental biology, toxicology, and pathology. The editor-in-chief is Mark Giembycz (Departme ...

'', the ''

Journal of Clinical Investigation The ''Journal of Clinical Investigation'' is a semi-monthly peer-reviewed medical journal covering biomedical research. It was established in 1924 and is published by the American Society for Clinical Investigation. Articles focus on the mechanisms ...

'', the ''

American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology The ''American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal and an official publication of the American Thoracic Society. It covers research on the structure and function of the respiratory syst ...

'', and ''

The American Journal of Medicine ''The American Journal of Medicine'' is a peer-reviewed medical journal and the official journal of the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine. It was established in 1946. The journal is published monthly by Elsevier. It is also known as "the gr ...

''. In addition, he has been an associate junior editor of the ''

'' and the '' American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drazen, Jeffrey M. Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences alumni Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health faculty Harvard Medical School faculty Boston University School of Medicine faculty Medical journal editors Writers from St. Louis Living people Harvard Medical School alumni American pulmonologists The New England Journal of Medicine people Year of birth missing (living people) Members of the National Academy of Medicine