Chalmers, Thomas C. (Thomas Clark), 1917-1995

Thomas C. Chalmers, MD, clinician- scientist- teacher- administrator- entrepreneur, was born in Forest Hills, New York, on December 8, 1917 and played a pivotal role in the scientific development of the randomized control trial and clinical trial meta-analysis. His research interests included the methodology of clinical trials; meta-analysis; clinical gastroenterology and cardiology, and geriatrics. Chalmers realized earlier in his career that many of the treatments he was taught had been disproved by clinical trials. This ultimately changed his views on medicine and led him to pioneer and promote meta-analysis during the latter half of his career through his medical practice, research, and professorial positions. He also advocated the randomized assignment of patients in studies to avoid bias in the selection of treatment. Through his studies of randomized control trials Chalmers proved that had the trials been systematically and cumulatively synthesized, important treatments such as thrombolytic therapy for myocardial infarction would have been recognized much earlier. In addition, he also demonstrated that the advice given in textbooks and reviews articles did not correspond to the current available evidence when published. In 1951 he was the principal investigator of the hepatitis treatment research unit of Harvard Medical School in Kyoto, Japan. From 1955 to 1968 he was Chief of the Medical Services of the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital in Boston and Professor of Medicine at Tufts Medical School, and lecturer at Harvard. In 1968 Chalmers became head of the research and education program of the Veterans Administration. He was appointed Associate Director for Clinical Care and Director of the Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health until 1973 when he became President, Dean, and Professor of the Mount Sinai Medical Center and School of Medicine. During the latter half of the 1980s he served as Distinguished Physician at the Boston Veterans Administration Medical Center. In 1993 he co-founded MetaWorks, Inc.

From the description of Thomas C. Chalmers papers, 1927-1955. (National Library of Medicine). WorldCat record id: 55634326

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