Deepening an already productive relationship, Tufts University and Tufts Medicine health system are launching a joint research enterprise that further integrates the academic prowess of Tufts University with the clinical and research expertise of Tufts Medicine to drive discovery, accelerate innovation, and leverage their collective strengths to advance human health.

The inaugural director of the Tufts University-Tufts Medicine (TU-TM) Research Enterprise is Iris Jaffe, the Elisa Kent Mendelsohn Professor of Molecular Cardiology at Tufts University School of Medicine and executive director of the Molecular Cardiology Research Institute (MCRI) at Tufts Medical Center.

"This enterprise will provide new structures to facilitate and incentivize translational collaboration and enhance capacity for industry-sponsored research," Jaffe said. "The return on investment will be more Tufts innovation and inventions, more real-world impact improving human health, and more opportunities for Tufts students at all levels to dock in and participate in research."

Iris Jaffe is the Elisa Kent Mendelsohn Professor of Molecular Cardiology at Tufts University School of Medicine and executive director of the Molecular Cardiology Research Institute at Tufts Medical Center. Photo: Courtesy of Tufts Medicine

The collaborative initiative focuses on transformative growth in five strategic pillars of translational research: brain and behavior; cancer biology, care, and survivorship; cardiovascular disease and critical care; transplant immunity and infection; and women's health, nutrition, and sex differences.

"At the heart of the TU-TM collaboration is our shared commitment to advancing research that improves lives," said Helen Boucher, dean of Tufts University School of Medicine and chief academic officer of Tufts Medicine. "This fusion of academic and clinical experts will foster interdisciplinary collaborations and execute a bold vision for a dynamic, integrated, and innovative research ecosystem across Tufts University and the Tufts Medicine health system."

Pillars of Strengths

Jaffe met with over 180 stakeholders across the university and hospital system to draft the strategy for the TU-TM Research Enterprise and determine the areas of overlapping excellence, or pillars.

Each pillar has two leaders who will convene investigators across Tufts Medicine and Tufts University for the establishment of multidisciplinary translational research groups. Also, each pillar aligns the strengths of the School of Medicine's basic science departments with the school's clinical departments as well as with teams from other Tufts schools that are also conducting biomedical research.

Aiming to tackle mental health challenges, the brain and behavior pillar spans neuroscience and psychiatry, and will incorporate many other disciplines under faculty leads Chris Dulla, the Annetta and Gustav Grisard Chair and Professor of Neuroscience at the School of Medicine, and Brent Forester, the Dr. Frances S. Arkin Chair and Professor of Psychiatry at the School of Medicine and Tufts Medical Center.

The cancer biology, care, and survivorship pillar will integrate researchers across many Tufts schools with Tufts Medicine cancer experts to advance cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and long-term survivorship. It will be led by Mark Bonnen, Tufts Medicine Physician Executive, Cancer Service, at Tufts Medical Center and professor at the School of Medicine, and Karl Munger, chair of the Department of Developmental, Molecular and Chemical Biology.

Leading the cardiovascular disease and critical care pillar will be Robert Blanton Jr. and Ben Wessler, who are both cardiologists at Tufts Medical Center and associate professors at the School of Medicine. They bring together expertise in basic science and clinical cardiovascular research and a history of transdisciplinary collaboration across the university.

The transplant immunity and infection pillar will align transplantation leaders with immunologists and microbiologists to drive innovation that transforms patient care before, during, and after organ transplantation. Spearheading this pillar are Yanik Bababekov, transplant surgeon at Tufts Medical Center and assistant professor of surgery at the School of Medicine, and John Leong, chair of the Molecular Biology and Microbiology Department and Edith Rieva and Hyman S. Trilling Professor at the School of Medicine.

"Tufts Medicine has the largest heart transplant program in the region and world-class care in liver transplantation," Jaffe said. "Recently, Tufts Medical Center performed the heart transplant with the longest distance from donor to recipient, with the donor in Alaska and the recipient in Boston."

Perrie O'Tierney-Ginn, executive director of the Woman, Mother + Baby (WoMB) Research Institute at Tufts Medical Center, works with a Tufts University School of Medicine student in the WoMB lab. Photo: Alonso Nichols

The women's health, nutrition, and sex differences pillar will build on Tufts' history of advancing women's health across the lifespan through research on maternal health, nutrition, gynecologic oncology, and sex differences. Led by Jamie Maguire, the Kenneth and JoAnn G. Wellner Professor of Neuroscience at the School of Medicine, and Perrie O'Tierney-Ginn, executive director of the Woman, Mother + Baby Research Institute (WoMB) at Tufts Medical Center, this area also encompasses the Center for Black Maternal Health and Reproductive Justice at the School of Medicine. Additionally, this pillar was recently chosen as a Research Interest Group by the Office of the Vice Provost for Research (OVPR).

Proof Points

Jaffe pointed to three developments that prove the strategy is already working.

A recent $4 million gift from Tufts University Board Chair Jeff Moslow and Linda Moslow to advance women's health launched the Tufts Women's Health and Menopause Initiative, a first-of-its-kind academic collaboration uniting the expertise of the School of Medicine, the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, and the Tufts Medicine health system.

Jaffe also cited two successful cluster hires between the School of Medicine and Tufts Medicine. The first was in October 2024 of two experts in the field of cervical cancer. Elizabeth White was named as an associate professor in the Developmental, Molecular and Chemical Biology Department at the School of Medicine, and Rebecca Perkins was appointed to the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and to WoMB at Tufts Medical Center.

Since then, the university has received nearly $11 million in funding to study infection-driven cancers. Jaffe noted that many of those are multi-investigator grants with other Tufts faculty.

The second cluster hire in March 2025, which focused on microbiome research, included Kevin Bonham, a researcher in the division of gastroenterology at Tufts Medical Center and assistant professor of medicine at the School of Medicine, and Cammie Lesser, professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology at the School of Medicine.

Jaffe said the cluster hiring process is open again, and multiple pilot award opportunities will be available to provide seed funds to initiate new collaborations that will set the stage for larger external research funding aligned with the TU-TM Research Enterprise strategy. These investments will be aligned with the strategic pillars to drive Tufts innovation, grow the TU-TM Research Enterprise, and have the greatest impact on human health.

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