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 highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

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. It is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals as well as the oldest continuously published one. His ...

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

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

at the

Brigham and Women’s Hospital Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is the second largest 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 f ...

, Distinguished Parker B. Francis Professor of Medicine at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

, professor of

physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

at the

Harvard School of Public Health The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school of Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. The school grew out of the Harvard-MIT School for Health Officers, the nation's first ...

, and adjunct professor of medicine at the

Boston University School of Medicine The Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, formerly the Boston University School of Medicine, is one of the graduate schools of Boston University. Founded in 1848, the medical school was the first institution in the world ...

. He is the recipient of honorary degrees from the

University of Ferrara The University of Ferrara ( it, Università degli Studi di 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 5 ...

, the

University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...

, the

University of Modena The University of Modena and Reggio Emilia ( it, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia), located in Modena and Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, is one of the oldest universities in Italy, founded in 1175, with a population of 2 ...

and the

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

Biography

Born and raised in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, Missouri, Drazen majored in

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its 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 which r ...

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

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 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 training similar ...

and

residency Residency may refer to: * Domicile (law), the act of establishing or maintaining a residence in a given place ** Permanent residency, indefinite residence within a country despite not having citizenship * Residency (medicine), a stage of postgrad ...

Peter Bent Brigham Hospital Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is the second largest 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 fo ...

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, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

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 ph ...

, 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), formerly called 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, En ...

. 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 specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

’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 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 wheezing, cou ...

. 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 ''Journal ...

'', 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 presente ...

'', '' Pulmonary Pharmacology'', '' Experimental Lung Research'', the ''

Journal of Clinical Investigation The ''Journal of Clinical Investigation'' is a twice-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 mechanism ...

'', 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 system u ...

'', 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 under its Excerpta Medica im ...

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

'' and the ''

American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine The ''American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine'' is a biweekly peer-reviewed medical journal published by the American Thoracic Society. It covers the pathophysiology and treatment of diseases that affect the respiratory system, ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drazen, Jeffrey M. Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences alumni Harvard 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