James de Lemos, M.D.

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James de Lemos, M.D., is a Professor of in the Department of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center and Chief of the Division of Cardiology.

Originally from Riverside, California, Dr. de Lemos holds a bachelor's degree in liberal arts from the University of Texas at Austin, where he graduated summa cum laude. He received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and completed internal medicine residency training at UT Southwestern, where he served as Chief Resident. He then obtained advanced training in cardiovascular medicine and served on the faculty at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston before returning to join the UT Southwestern faculty as an Assistant Professor in 2000. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2005.

From 2005 until 2009, he held the J. Fred Schoellkopf Jr. Chair in Cardiology Research. Then, in 2009, he became the Sweetheart Ball-Kern Wildenthal, M.D., Ph.D. Distinguished Chair in Cardiology. Dr. de Lemos was promoted to Professor in 2011. In 2018, the UT Board of Regents named him a Distinguished Teaching Professor. He became Chief of the Division of Cardiology in 2023.

Dr. de Lemos is active in clinical research, focusing on early detection, risk assessment, and management of cardiovascular disease, with a particular interest in the role of cardiovascular biomarkers. He currently serves as Principal Investigator for the Dallas Heart Study, a multiethnic population-based study of more than 6,000 adults, and has played a major leadership role in this study for more than 20 years. He has mentored more than 30 postdoctoral research trainees and authored or co-authored over 400 original research articles.

His commitment to education and training is exemplified by involvement with the Cardiovascular Fellowship Program, and by his multiple local and national teaching and mentorship awards, including the 2015 Women in Cardiology Mentoring Award from the American Heart Association (AHA), the 2020 Distinguished Mentor Award from the American College of Cardiology (ACC), and the 2021 Award of Meritorious Achievement from the AHA. Dr. Additionally, he was elected a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation in 2014 and the American Association of Physicians in 2017.

Dr. de Lemos has also served the profession beyond UT Southwestern, holding positions on multiple committees of the AHA and ACC, including the STEMI Guideline Committee, and as Chair of the Research and Publications Committee for the NCDR ACTION-GWTG registry, and most recently as PI for the AHA’s COVID 19 Cardiovascular Disease Registry. He has been a standing member of the FDA’s Cardiorenal Advisory Panel and is currently serving on the FDA’s Endocrine and Metabolic Panel. Additionally, he is the Executive Editor for Circulation, and has previously served on the editorial boards of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the American Journal of Cardiology and the American Heart Journal.

Personal Note

Outside of medicine, Dr. de Lemos is an avid sports fan and has a wife and three children.

Medical School

Harvard Medical School (1992)

Internship

UT Southwestern Medical Center (1993), Internal Medicine

Residency

UT Southwestern Medical Center (1995), Internal Medicine

Chief Resident

UT Southwestern Medical Center (1996), Internal Medicine

Fellowship

Harvard Medical School (1999), Cardiology

• Acute Coronary Syndromes
• Cardiac Biomarkers
• Lipid Lowering Therapy
• Screening for Cardiovascular Disease

Featured Publications

Impact of body weight and extreme obesity on the presentation, treatment, and in-hospital outcomes of 50,149 patients with ST-Segment elevation myocardial infarction results from the NCDR (National Cardiovascular Data Registry).

Das SR, Alexander KP, Chen AY, Powell-Wiley TM, Diercks DB, Peterson ED, Roe MT, de Lemos JA J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 2011 Dec 58 25 2642-50

Biomarkers in clinical trials: can we move from fortune telling to disease profiling?

de Lemos JA, McGuire DK Circulation 2011 Aug 124 6 663-5

Association of troponin T detected with a highly sensitive assay and cardiac structure and mortality risk in the general population.

de Lemos JA, Drazner MH, Omland T, Ayers CR, Khera A, Rohatgi A, Hashim I, Berry JD, Das SR, Morrow DA, McGuire DK JAMA 2010 Dec 304 22 2503-12

Early Intensive vs a Delayed Conservative Simvastatin Strategy in Patients With Acute Coronary Syndromes: Phase Z of the A to Z Trial

46. de Lemos JA, Blazing MA, Wiviott SD, Lewis EF, Fox KA, White HD, Rouleau JL, Pedersen TR, Gardner LH, Mukherjee R, Ramsey KE, Palmisano J, Bilheimer DW, Pfeffer MA, Califf RM, Braunwald E JAMA 2004 292 1303-17

Enoxaparin versus unfractionated heparin in patients treated with tirofiban, aspirin and an early conservative initial management strategy: results from the A phase of the A to Z trial

47. de Lemos JA, Blazing MA, Wiviott SD, Brady WE, White HD, Fox KAA, Palmisano J, Ramsey KE, Bilheimer D, Lewis EF, Califf RM, Braunwald E Eur Heart J 2004 25 1688-94

The prognostic value of B-type natriuretic peptide in patients with acute coronary syndromes

de Lemos JA, Morrow DA, Bentley JH, Omland T, Sabatine MS, McCabe CH, Hall C, Cannon CP, Braunwald E New England Journal of Medicine September 2001 345 1014-21

Low levels of circulating troponin as an intermediate phenotype in the pathway to heart failure.

de Lemos JA, Grundy SM J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 2012 Jan 59 5 490-2

Association of growth differentiation factor-15 with coronary atherosclerosis and mortality in a young, multiethnic population: observations from the Dallas Heart Study.

Rohatgi A, Patel P, Das SR, Ayers CR, Khera A, Martinez-Rumayor A, Berry JD, McGuire DK, de Lemos JA Clin. Chem. 2012 Jan 58 1 172-82

No free lunches: balancing bleeding and efficacy with ticagrelor.

de Lemos JA, Brilakis ES Eur. Heart J. 2011 Dec 32 23 2919-21

Race-specific associations of myeloperoxidase with atherosclerosis in a population-based sample: the Dallas Heart Study.

Chen LQ, Rohatgi A, Ayers CR, Das SR, Khera A, Berry JD, McGuire DK, de Lemos JA Atherosclerosis 2011 Dec 219 2 833-8

 Featured Books

Biomarkers in Heart Disease

de Lemos JA (Ed.) (2008). Blackwell Publishing

Cardiovascular Therapeutics: A companion to Braunwald's Heart Disease, 3rd ed

de Lemos JA (Ed.) (2007). Saunders

Unstable Angina and Non-ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction. In Hurst's the Heart, 13th ed

de Lemos JA, O'Rourke RA, Harrington RA (2011). McGraw Hill

ST Elevation Myocardial infarction. In Irwin and Rippe?s Intensive Care Medicine 7th edition

de Lemos JA and Morrow DA (2011). William and Wilkins

• Simon Dack Award for Medical Publications
  Journal of the American College of Cardiology (2012)
• Association of University Cardiologists
  (2011)
• Best Doctors in Dallas, Cardiology
  D Magazine (2011)
• Core Clerkship Teaching Award
  UT Southwestern (2011)
• Super Doctors, Cardiology
  Texas Monthly (2011)
• Best Doctors in Dallas, Cardiology
  D Magazine (2010)
• Super Doctors, Cardiology
  Texas Monthly (2010)
• Sweetheart Ball-Kern Wildenthal MD, PhD Distinguished Chair
  Distinguished Chair in Cardiology (2009)
• Elite Reviewer
  Journal of the American College of Cardiology (2006)
• Best Doctors in Dallas, Cardiology
  D Magazine (2005)
• Internal Medicine Teaching Award
  Excellence in Teaching (2005)
• Eugene Braunwald Fellowship
  Excellence in Clinical Research, Brigham and Women’s Hospital (1999)
• Soma Weiss Award
  Excellence in Teaching, Brigham and Women’s Hospital (1997)

• Association of American Physicians (2017)
• American Society of Clinical Investigation (2014)
• Association of University Cardiologists (2011)
• American Heart Association (1998)
• American College of Cardiology (1996)