BEST-CLI Clinical Coordinating Center (CCC)
Dr. Matthew Menard
Co-Principal Investigator
Dr. Matthew T. Menard is the director of the vascular and endovascular fellowship program and co-director of the Endovascular Surgery Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He is a vascular and endovascular surgeon at BWH and an Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Menard received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School. He then completed a general surgery residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and a vascular surgery fellowship at BWH. He is board certified in both general and vascular surgery. The author of over 40 peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Menard’s clinical interests include surgery for aortic aneurysms, arterial occlusive disease, cerebrovascular disease, peripheral vascular disease and thoracic outlet syndrome.
Brigham & Women’s Hospital is the communicating institution and IDE Holder
Dr. Alik Farber
co-principal investigator
Alik Farber is Chief of the Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at Boston Medical Center and Professor of Surgery and Radiology at Boston University School of Medicine. Dr. Farber is a graduate of Brown University and obtained his medical degree from Harvard Medical School. He completed a residency in general surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, a vascular surgery fellowship at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and an endovascular surgery fellowship at the Southern Illinois School of Medicine. Dr. Farber’s administrative responsibilities include being Associate Chair for Clinical Operations in the Department of Surgery, Chair of Value Analysis Committee and Co-Director of Non-Invasive Vascular Laboratories. Dr. Farber is a National Co-Chair of the Best Endovascular versus Best Surgical Therapy in Patients with Critical Limb Ischemia (BEST-CLI) trial, a randomized, controlled trial enrolling patients at 135 sites across North America, Europe and New Zealand. BEST-CLI is funded by a $27 million grant awarded by the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Kenneth Rosenfield
co-principal investigator
Dr. Kenneth Rosenfield is Head of the Section of Vascular Medicine and Intervention in the Division of Cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital. His research interests are focused on the development of novel, minimally invasive strategies for treatment of complex peripheral and coronary artery disease. He has played a leading role in clinical trials investigating the utility of renal, carotid, and lower extremity revascularization, intravascular ultrasound, excimer laser angioplasty, thrombolytic therapy, and other technologies for use in cardiovascular disease. He also worked with Dr. Jeffrey Isner to develop the concept of angiogenic therapy for critical limb ischemia. Dr. Rosenfield has numerous scientific publications to his credit and is a frequent contributor in the form of book chapters and review articles on the subject of management of peripheral arterial disease. As a prior chairman and longstanding member of the Peripheral Vascular Disease Committee of the American College of Cardiology, current Chair of the Diagnostic & Interventional Cardiac Catheterization Committee (DICC) of the America Heart Association, current Chair of the SCAI Ad hoc Committee on PAD, and member of the SCAI Ad hoc Carotid and Cerebrovascular Disease Committee, Dr. Rosenfield has played a leadership role in defining new modalities of treatment and expanding the role of the cardiologist and other specialties in management of patients with peripheral vascular disease.
BEST-CLI Data Coordinating Center (DCC): New England Research Institutes
F. Sandra Siami, MPH
senior vice president - HEALTHCORE / NERI
Sandra Siami is Senior Vice President overseeing all clinical research, regulatory affairs, and quality assurance activities. She has a proven track-record for providing strategic corporate business development direction to support organizational objectives and serves in an executive leadership role. She is known for her innovative, out of the box solutions to overcome business changes and risks associated with this industry. Ms. Siami is responsible for establishing business relationships for NERI’s CRO services.
Susan Assmann, PhD
Principal HEALTHCORE BIOSTATISTICIAN - HEALTHCORE / NERI
Susan Assmann is a Principal HealthCore Biostatistician at HealthCore/NERI, and is the lead Biostatistician for BEST-CLI. Educated at Dartmouth College, she has a PhD in Mathematics from MIT and an MS in Biostatistics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Cost-Effectiveness Core
Dr. Niteesh Choudhry
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Niteesh K. Choudhry is an internist and health services researcher whose work focuses on the development and evaluation of novel strategies to improve health care quality and reduce spending. He is Professor Medicine at Harvard Medical School, the founding Executive Director of the Center for Healthcare Delivery Sciences and an Associate Physician in the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, at Brigham and Women's Hospital, where he is also a practicing hospitalist.
Funding Sponsor - NIH - NHLBI
Dr. George Sopko, M.D.
NIH - Division of cardiovascular sciences
Dr. George Sopko is a cardiologist in Bethesda, Maryland and is affiliated with Inova Fairfax Hospital. He received his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and has been in practice for more than 20 years, specializing in Cardiovascular Disease.
Dr. Diane Reid, M.D.
NIH - Division of cardiovascular sciences
Dr. Diane Reid, MD, based in Bethesda, Maryland, was trained in Internal Medicine at University of California, San Diego. She has served for many years as a Program Officer in the Vascular Biology and Hypertension Branch of the Division of Cardiovascular Sciences at the National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, where she helps to manage a portfolio of basic and clinical research grants.
For a list of sites participating in BEST-CLI please see our registration on www.clinicaltrials.gov. If you would like more information about how to contact a BEST-CLI site, call the Data Coordinating Center at 617-972-3197 or email BEST@neriscience.com