Dr. Thompson, Dr. Frederick and Ms. Sandra Forman were responsible for carrying out the very first thrombolysis myocardial infarction clinical trials. The TIMI I study compared the relative thrombolytic activity and side effects of intravenous r-tPA vs. intravenous SK in patients with acute myocardial infarction and angiographic documentation of totally occluded infarct-related coronary arteries. The TIMI II study investigated whether percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty or intravenous beta-receptor blockers, or both, were useful adjuncts to r-tPA in the treatment of patients with acute myocardial infarction. Dr. Thompson served as the Co-PI for the TIMI III clinical trial, which was a 2 by 2 factorial design to look at the efficacy of PTCA and TPA in the treatment of acute myocardial ischemia defined as unstable angina or non-Q wave myocardial infarction. In addition, Dr. Thompson was the principal investigator of the thrombolysis myocardial ischemia registry which sought to define the prevalence of ischemic syndromes in the population, and to determine characteristics associated with progression of disease. More recently, Dr. Thompson and Ms. Forman served as the primary statistician and data coordinating principal investigator respectively of the Occluded Artery Trial designed to determine if late reopening of TIMI grade O coronary vessels is efficacious. This study was conducted with over 250 clinical centers located on 4 different continents. C-TASC staff were responsible for editing the data, providing statistical guidance, presenting interim analyses to the Data Safety Monitoring Boards, providing toxicity information and preparing manuscripts. The study is now in analyses phase for long-term follow up (a phase IV study). Ms. Forman is also the Principal Investigator of the C-PORT clinical trial, a trial designed to determine the efficacy of using hospitals without cardiac surgery teams compared to hospitals with cardiac surgery available for the performance of PTCA. This study is designed to collect information of 18,000 patients, and uses an interactive voice response system for enrollment and randomization to local care vs. tertiary care.