Jeffrey Carson, MD

Dr. Jeffrey Carson is the  Richard C. Reynolds, M.D. Chair in General Internal Medicine and Distinguished Professor of Medicine. In 2014 he was appointed as one of the two inaugural Provosts of Rutgers Health.  Dr. Carson is an active clinician in outpatient and hospital-based Internal Medicine and on the annual "best" doctor list since 1998. He has been the recipient of five teaching awards and two research mentor awards.  His expertise in clinical trials has been recognized by appointment to the Clinical Trials Review Committee at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute where he served as Chair during his fifth year. 

The focus of Dr. Carson's research is determining the risk of anemia and indications for red blood cell blood transfusion. He was the principal investigator of the FOCUS trial that evaluated red blood cell transfusion and demonstrated the safety of restrictive transfusion strategy in elderly patients undergoing surgery.  This trial was published in the New England Journal of Medicine and the Lancet and recognized as one of the 34 key research findings published in 2012 funded by the NIH.  Other notable publications include AABB RBC transfusion guidelines published in JAMA, chapter in UpToDate, and an invited review in the New England Journal of Medicine. 

Dr. Carson is the principal investigator and study chair of the recently completed National Heart, Lung and Blood Institutes supported trial called MINT.  The trial enrolled 3504 participants with anemia and myocardial infarction and compared liberal to restrictive transfusion strategies.   The trial was conducted in 144 centers in US, Canada, France, Spain, Brazil, New Zealand and Australia. The trial result was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

“Best Doctor” annually since 1988

Margot S. Kruskall Lectureship,  Harvard Medical School, 2012

American Association of Physicians, 2016

National Blood Foundation Hall of Fame, 2018

John Phillips Memorial Award for Outstanding Work in Clinical Medicine from the American College of Physicians, 2021

Landsteiner-Alter Award from the AABB, 2022

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Paul M. Ness MD Visiting Professor Lecture in Transfusion Medicine, 2026

1. Carson JL, Duff A, Poses RM, Berlin JA, Spence RK, Trout R, Noveck H, Strom BL. Effect of anaemia and cardiovascular disease on surgical mortality and morbidity. Lancet. 1996 Oct 19;348(9034):1055-60. PubMed PMID: 8874456
2. Carson JL, Terrin ML, Noveck H, Sanders DW, et al. Liberal or restrictive transfusion in high-risk patients after hip surgery. N Engl J Med. 2011 Dec 29;365(26):2453-62. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3268062. 
3. Carson JL, Sieber F, Cook DR, Hoover DR, Noveck H, Chaitman BR, Fleisher L, Beaupre L, Macaulay W, Rhoads GG, Paris B, Zagorin A, Sanders DW, Zakriya KJ, Magaziner J. Liberal versus restrictive blood transfusion strategy: 3-year survival and cause of death results from the FOCUS randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2015 Mar 28;385(9974):1183-9. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4498804
4. Carson JL, Triulzi DJ, Ness PM. Indications for and Adverse Effects of Red-Cell Transfusion. N Engl J Med. 2017 Sep 28;377(13):1261-1272. PubMed PMID: 28953438. 
5. Carson JL, Brooks MM, Hébert PC, Goodman SG, et al. Restrictive or Liberal Transfusion Strategy in Myocardial Infarction and Anemia. N Engl J Med. 2023 Dec 28;389(26):2446-2456. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10837004. 
6. Carson JL, Stanworth SJ, Guyatt G, Valentine S, et al. Red Blood Cell Transfusion: 2023 AABB International Guidelines. JAMA. 2023 Nov 21;330(19):1892-1902. PubMed PMID: 37824153. 
7. Carson JL, Fergusson DA, Noveck H, Mallick R, et al. Restrictive versus Liberal Transfusion in Myocardial Infarction - A Patient-Level Meta-Analysis. NEJM Evid. 2024 Dec 23; PubMed PMID: 39714935.