Bio
Dr. Themistocles (Tim) Assimes, MD PhD, is a board-certified adult cardiologist and a tenured Associate Professor of Medicine at Stanford University in the Department of Medicine (Division of Cardiovascular Medicine). Tim grew up in Montreal, Canada, where he received his medical degree from McGill University in 1994. He then pursued training in surgery for nearly two years before switching into internal medicine. He completed his residency in internal medicine as well as a masters degree in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McGill under the supervision of Dr. Samy Suissa before moving to Stanford University in 2001 to pursue fellowship training in adult cardiology. During his fellowship and Instructorship years at Stanford University, he also completed a PhD in Epidemiology and Biostatistics in pharmacoepidemiology once again under Dr. Suissa's supervision. Dr. Assimes currently devotes a majority of his time performing advanced population based research on the genomic causes of heart attacks and the common conditions that predispose people to heart attacks including high cholesterol, smoking, diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, and insulin resistance. He has gained substantial experience collaborating with scientists at the international level by representing Stanford and the affiliated Palo Alto VA in large consortia meta analyzing genetic and genomic data. These efforts go beyond the standard SNP by SNP analyses and include analyses, interpretation, and integration of expression and allelic imbalance SNPs, genetic risk scores, Mendelian randomization, epigenetic, and gene set enrichment analyses for the identification of novel pathways of CHD in multi-ethnic populations. Concurrently, he teaches general cardiology as well as echocardiography to medical students, residents, and cardiology fellows-in-training at the Stanford affiliated Palo Alto VA hospital.
Academic Appointments
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Associate Professor, Medicine - Cardiovascular Medicine
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Associate Professor (By courtesy), Epidemiology and Population Health
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Member, Cardiovascular Institute
Administrative Appointments
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Director, Medical and Population Genomics for Precision Medicine, VA Palo Alto Health Care System (2019 - Present)
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Associate Director, Palo Alto Epidemiology Research and Information Center for Genomics, Palo Alto VA Hospital (2018 - Present)
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Steering Committee, Project Baseline (2017 - Present)
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Leadership Committee, Council of Genomic and Precision Medicine, American Heart Association (2016 - 2020)
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Membership and Communications Committee, Council of Epidemiology and Prevention, American Heart Organization (2016 - 2020)
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Steering Commitee, CARDIoGRAMplusC4D (http://www.cardiogramplusc4d.org/) (2012 - Present)
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Co-chair, Women's Health Initiative Scientific Interest Group for Genetics, Proteomics & Biomarkers (2010 - Present)
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Member, Ancillary Studies Committee, Women's Health Initiative (2010 - Present)
Honors & Awards
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Elected member, American Society of Clinical Investigation (01/01/2020)
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Genomic and Precision Medicine and Epidemiology Mid-Career Research Award and Lecturer, American Heart Association (04/30/2019)
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50+ Faces of Vanier College, Vanier College, Quebec, Canada (12/10/2018)
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Fellow of the American Heart Association (FAHA), council of Epidemiology and Prevention, American Heart Association (03/01/2016)
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Edwin L. Alderman award for excellence in Clinical Cardiovascular Research, Stanford University School of Medicine (2004, 2005)
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Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (2000-2019)
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Chief Medical Resident, McGill University Medical Center - Royal Victoria Hospital (1999-2000)
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J.W. McConnell Scholarship, McGill Universtiy (1989-1994)
Professional Education
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MD, McGill University, Medicine (1994)
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Board Certified, American Board of Internal Medicine, Internal Medicine (not maintained beyond 2009) (1999)
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MS, McGill University, Epidemiology & Biostatistics (2001)
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Board Certified, American Board of Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Medicine (2004)
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PhD, McGill University, Epidemiology & Biostatistics (2008)