Dr. Thomas Graboys

Dr. Thomas B. Graboys, MD, served as President Emeritus of the Lown Institute and as director of the Lown Cardiovascular Center, shaping a generation of thinking about patient-centered cardiac care. His mentor, Dr. Bernard Lown, once described him as “a jewel in the crown of medicine,” whose patients treasured him as their confidant and friend.

A senior physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Graboys was widely respected for his kindness, generosity, and humanity. Guided by the ethos often associated with Dr. Lown—“doing as much as possible for the patient and as little as possible to the patient”—he favored low-intervention approaches to cardiac care, choosing instead to spend time with patients at the bedside and in the clinic. As Dr. Lown observed, “During a consultation he sat just opposite the patient, not separated by a desk. Patients felt as though they had all the time in the world. Tom knew more about many of them than their own families. He realized that the art of medicine was far more difficult to muster than the science.”

Beyond the clinic, Dr. Graboys helped shape the field through scholarship and leadership. He served on the editorial boards of The New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of Noninvasive Cardiology, and authored or co-authored approximately 170 scientific publications and abstracts. Breaking from convention, he joined Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility to warn of the catastrophic risks posed by the global nuclear arms race. In 1985, he was among the physicians awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work with International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War.

No stranger to personal hardship, he documented his experience living with Parkinson’s disease in his memoir, Life in the Balance: A Physician’s Memoir of Life, Love, and Loss with Parkinson’s Disease and Dementia. Writing as a doctor-turned-patient, he offered an unflinching account of decline, dignity, and resilience. A true polymath, Dr. Graboys ran marathons, piloted glider planes, and even played drums in the all-cardiologist rock band The Dysrhythmics

Though he passed away in January 2015, Dr. Graboys’ legacy endures not only through his contributions to cardiology and preventive medicine, but in the countless lives he touched. Whether caring for patients, advancing research, or advocating for nuclear disarmament, his life’s work reflected a profound belief in healing, dignity, and the power of human connection.