A New Way to Have Impact
Since 2017, Thomas Jefferson University has risen in the Carnegie Classification to become a national doctoral research university, and extended both the range and impact of its research programs. During the next five years, the Jefferson research enterprise will continue to grow. To guide that growth, the University is expanding its leadership team — beginning with the creation of the role of Deputy Provost for Research. Dr. David Whellan has been appointed to that position, in which he leads the implementation and ongoing refinement of the University’s strategic plan for research. He also stewards clinical research at Jefferson and directs the Jefferson Clinical Research Institute, which he helped create in 2015. Here, Dr. Whellan offers a perspective on the professional changes this new role brings.
David Whellan, MD. Thomas Jefferson University Photography Services
For much of the past three decades, I’ve had two primary professional roles: practicing cardiologist with a specialty in heart failure and systolic dysfunction, and clinical researcher on new and more effective ways of diagnosing and treating people with serious cardiac disease. My efforts in both roles have been motivated by the desire to help my patients have longer and better-quality lives. The joy I’ve felt in seeing these individuals become stronger, physically and emotionally, is powerful.
I’ve experienced a deep sense of professional accomplishment and excitement from a source that I’d not anticipated when I first left medical school: undertaking clinical trials of new treatments, devices and approaches. Relatively early in my career I came to understand the extraordinary potential that clinical research holds for helping thousands of patients regain their well-being. I first undertook a leading role in clinical research projects in 1997, as a cardiology fellow, and remained directly engaged for the past 26 years. Perhaps the most rewarding clinical research project has been one that I helped initiate in 2002; it focused on exercise for patients with “weak hearts.” While it took more than a decade to obtain funding and complete the study, its results led to changes in practice guidelines and to cardiac rehabilitation being covered by insurance for this patient population. Now, I am part of a leadership team for another physical therapy intervention study. This one focuses on older adults with “stiff hearts,” a condition that limits their function and increases their risk of being in the hospital or dying. The seeds of this large multi-center study started with a Jefferson-funded pilot study in 2011.
That experience helped solidify the belief that I could help other clinician-researchers launch their own investigations at Jefferson. With the help of an incredible team, I launched the Jefferson Clinical Research Institute in 2015. The Institute’s goal is to provide clinicians with the technical support they need to balance their clinical responsibilities with research that aims to improve treatment for the patients they serve every day.
However, for the foreseeable future, I won’t be serving on the front line for clinical trials. Becoming Deputy Provost has meant taking on new responsibilities that, I believe, will enable me to have far greater impact across a broader range of research at Jefferson. But it also means that I have stepped back from patient care and from direct patient engagement in clinical research. While I will miss my patients, I’m excited about helping Jefferson pursue its potential for improving human well-being and advancing knowledge.
Yes, in the next few years, we will continue to grow our clinical research program (which now has more than 2,000 active grant-supported studies) and increase Jefferson’s support for the translation of research into real interventions. But we will also be elevating basic, translational and applied research and scholarship across the University, ranging from life sciences to humanities and social sciences to design, engineering and business. We will launch new regional partnerships to access high-end technologies, and catalyze national consortia to pursue targeted high-priority research goals. And, we’ll continue building transdisciplinary collaborations that enable our researchers to approach complex problems from multiple technical and professional perspectives — better positioning them to address multifaceted challenges ranging from the effects of climate change to racial disparities in health and economics.
I believe the faculty at Jefferson will continue to have tremendous beneficial impact on our communities, our nation and the world.
It won’t be easy: It will require hard work, resilience and flexibility in the face of unyielding technical, social and economic changes. And, for me, it will mean adapting to a new sense of my professional role and goals.
But I’m all in, for the long run.
David Whellan, MD
James C. Wilson Professor of Medicine
Deputy Provost for Research