Harry P. Selker, M.D., M.S.P.H.,is dean of the Tufts University-wide Clinical and Translational Science Institute and principal investigator on the NIH Clinical and Translational Science Award that supports it. Selker is professor of medicine at the Tufts University School of Medicine and executive director for the Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies at Tufts Medical Center, where he is also chief of the Division of Clinical Care Research in the Department of Medicine and director of the Center for Cardiovascular Health Services Research.
Selker has served on boards and as an officer for a variety of professional and educational organizations, including as president of the Society of General Internal Medicine (2011–2012), Society for Clinical and Translational Science (2010–2011), and Association for Clinical Research Training (2003–2004). He has been an active advisor in the design of clinical research graduate and training programs in the U.S. and internationally, and he is an active advocate and advisor in Washington in support of clinical research, research training and improvements in the health care delivery system. Selker maintains a medical practice at the Pratt Diagnostic Clinic at Tufts Medical Center.
In his research, Selker is particularly known for a series of studies of the factors influencing emergency cardiac care and for development of “cardiac predictive instruments,” mathematical decision aids embedded into electrocardiographs, which provide emergency clinicians with predictions of key outcomes for real-time use in the clinical setting. This work has included development of a methodology for mathematical modeling of medical outcomes for risk adjustment and clinical prediction. Selker was principal investigator and study chair for the national IMMEDIATE (Immediate Myocardial Metabolic Enhancement During Initial Assessment and Treatment in Emergency care) Trial sponsored by the National heart, Lung and Blood Institute; the trial focused on use of intravenous GIK (glucose, insulin and potassium) delivered by paramedics in the community to reduce deaths from acute coronary syndromes and heart attack. Selker also was principal investigator for a multicenter study of error reduction approaches in emergency medical service (EMS) and emergency department care, conducted in Massachusetts communities jointly by their local hospitals and EMS systems. He has been continuously funded by federal R01 and equivalent grants for more than two decades.