Dr. Bjorn Redfors is a new faculty member in population health sciences in the Division of Comparative Effectiveness and Outcomes Research. He joins Weill Cornell Medicine from Gothenburg University in Sweden, where he has served as professor of cardiology since May 2023.
How did you first become involved in your field?
I started as an experimental researcher – my PhD thesis was dedicated to experimental models of the takotsubo syndrome (a stress-induced acute cardiac condition). After completing my PhD in parallel with my clinical training in cardiology, I came to New York in 2015 as a research fellow in interventional cardiology at the Cardiovascular Research Foundation. It was there that I first became engaged in clinical trials. After completing my research fellowship, I continued to be engaged in the Foundation’s clinical trial activities in parallel with my clinical practice and research efforts in Sweden. As I established myself as an independent researcher in Sweden, I pivoted from experimental models to clinical studies and multi-center clinical trials, as well as registry-based comparative effectiveness studies.
Dr. Bjorn Redfors
What expertise do you bring to this role?
I have been involved in cardiovascular clinical trial design and execution for almost ten years as principal investigator (PI) and co-PI of multi-center randomized clinical trials, as well as the medical director of a data coordinating center and a clinical trial center for a large academic research organization. My experience at the research organization included directing events adjudication committees and data safety monitoring boards. I also have experience developing and implementing new methods for analyzing clinical trial data, particularly the win ratio method for hierarchical composite clinical endpoints.
What brings you to Weill Cornell Medicine?
WCM’s ambitious plans to develop a world-leading capacity for large pragmatic clinical trials. I have been collaborating with colleagues at WCM for almost three years. My first introduction to WCM was a collaborative trial design I did with Dr. Mario Gaudino in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery. We subsequently went on to design the RECHARGE trial program – two parallel multi-center trials to compare coronary artery bypass grafting to percutaneous coronary intervention for revascularization of coronary artery disease in women (first trial) and patients from underserved US minority populations (second trial). For this study, which received $30 million in funding from PCORI, Dr. Gaudino is the coordinating PI and I am a co-PI. Through this collaboration, I was introduced to my other collaborators at WCM and to the ambitious vision the institution has for developing its capacities for conducting and coordinating large clinical trials.
Are there any trends or issues you are currently following in your field?
I am very interested in clinical trial methodology, including the consequences of misunderstanding and misuse of methods in clinical trials. I think that clinical trials traditionally have relied on methodologies that are too simple, and there is great potential for more efficient trial designs. On the other hand, I think the increasing use of complex statistical methods such as complex Bayesian models, artificial intelligence, and machine learning may make it even more difficult for patients and practicing physicians to critically assess the quality of the study and the nuances of the trial results. I’m very interested in following discussions about new clinical trials as they are presented, which I think, unfortunately, often center around the implications of the trial results as the investigator or sponsor interprets them and rarely are sufficiently focused on the conduct and analytical methods of the trial. The multi-disciplinary team coming together at WCM will be able to contribute substantially to addressing these issues.
- Highlights