Awards - Scientific Sessions 2023

The AHA Scientific Council Awards applaud the achievements of researchers, scientists, clinicians, nurses, and allied health professionals, and provide opportunities for financial rewards, special presentations, and funding to attend the AHA Scientific Sessions and other council-sponsored meetings. Hundreds of awards are offered each year to meet our members where they are in their career.

Please visit Council Awards for opportunities to apply personally, or nominate a colleague for active awards. Award applicants and nominees must be AHA Professional Members.

Deadlines for Scientific Sessions 2023 awards:

  • June 8, 2023, 6:00 p.m. Central Time – Deadline to submit your science to Scientific Sessions 2023.
  • June 14, 2023, 6:00 p.m. Central Time – Deadline to apply for awards in the Council Awards system.
  • August 25, 2023, 6:00 p.m. Central Time – Deadline to apply for travel grants in the Council Awards system.

2022 Winners

Presidential Session Awards

Lewis A. Conner Presidential Address
Michelle A. Albert, MD, MPH, FAHA

Chairman’s Award
Ivor Benjamin, MD, FAHA

Basic Research Award
Louise McCullough, MD, PhD, FAHA

Clinical Research Award
Eldrin Lewis, MD, MPH, FACC, FAHA

Population Research Award
Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, MD, PhD, MAS

Eugene Braunwald Academic Mentorship Award
Myron (Mike) Weisfeldt, MD, FAHA

Research Achievement Award
Christine Seidman, MD, FAHA

Joseph A. Vita Award
Paul Muntner, PhD, MHSc

2022 Distinguished Scientists

  • Emelia J. Benjamin, MD, ScM, FAHA
  • Lisa A. Cooper, MD, MPH, FAHA (Hon)
  • David A. Kass, MD, FAHA, Baltimore, MD
  • Bruce Ovbiagele, MD, MSc, MAS, MBA, MLS, FAHA
  • Susan E. Quaggin, MD, FAHA (Hon)
  • Ralph L. Sacco, MD, MS, FAHA
  • Kevin G. Volpp, MD, PhD, FAHA (Hon)

Special Lectures

Lewis A. Conner Presidential Address
Michelle A. Albert, MD, MPH, FAHA

Annual Dr. Nanette K. Wenger Research Goes Red® Award for Best Scientific Article on Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke in Women

  • Harriette G.C. Van Spall, MD, MPH
  • Erica P. Gunderson, PhD, MS, MPH

Distinguished Scientist Lecture
Suzanne Oparil, MD, FAHA

Nobel Laureate Lecture
Gregg L. Semenza, MD, PhD

Paul Dudley White Lecture
Esther Duflo, PhD

Council Awards – Named Lectures

Ancel Keys Memorial Lecture
Donna K. Arnett, PhD, MPH, FAHA

Charles T. Dotter Memorial Lecture
Karen G. Ordovas, MD, FAHA

Dickinson W. Richards Memorial Lecture
Clifton W. Callaway, MD, PhD, FAHA

Genomic and Precision Medicine and Epidemiology Mid-Career Research Award and Lecture
Kathryn M. Rexrode, MD, MPH, FAHA

George E. Brown Memorial Lecture
Sumanth D. Prabhu, MD, FAHA

George Lyman Duff Memorial Lecture
Alan Daugherty, PhD, DSc, FAHA

James B. Herrick Award for Outstanding Achievement in Clinical Cardiology
Pamela S. Douglas, MD, FAHA

Katharine A. Lembright Award and Lecture
Lorraine S. Evangelista, PhD, RN, CNS, WAN, FAHA

Kathleen A. Dracup Distinguished Lecture Exemplary Career in Mentoring Award
Bunny J. Pozehl, PhD, APRN-NP, FAHA

Kenneth D. Bloch Memorial Lecture in Vascular Biology
Rhian M. Touyz, PhD, MBBCh, MSc (Med), FAHA

Laennec Clinician-Educator Award & Lecture
Jon A. Kobashigawa, MD, FAHA

Robert Levy Memorial Lecture
William Virgil Brown, MD

Russell Ross Memorial Lecture in Vascular Biology
William C. Sessa, PhD, FAHA

Sol Sherry Distinguished Lecture in Thrombosis
Marvin Nieman, PhD, FAHA

Stroke Council Award & Lecture
Nestor Gonzalez, MD, MSc, FAHA

T. Duckett Jones Memorial Lecture
Liesl Zühlke, PhD, MB ChB, DCH, FCPaeds, Cert Card, MPH, MSc

Thomas W. Smith Memorial Lecture
Leslie Leinwand, PhD, FAHA

William W. L. Glenn Lecture
Bartley P. Griffith, MD

William J. Rashkind Memorial Lecture
Dayna Bowen Matthew, JD, PhD

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Council Awards – Distinguished Achievement Awards Council Awards – Best Abstract Awards

3CPR Best Abstract Award Winner (Cardiopulmonary/ Critical Care)
Hyunbum Kim, PhD

ATVB Early Career Award for Outstanding Research
Amit Khera, MD, MSc

CVSN Best Abstract Award
Geunyeong Cha, MSN

Council Awards – Special Recognition Awards

Council on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology (ATVB)

Special Recognition Award in Thrombosis
Magdalena Chrzanowska, PhD, MSc, FAHA

Special Recognition Award in Arteriosclerosis
Sean Davidson, PhD, FAHA

Special Recognition Award in Vascular Biology
Rebecca Haeusler, PhD


Council on Cardiovascular and Stroke Nursing (CVSN)

CVSN Clinical Article of the Year Award
Leslie L. Davis, PhD, ANP-BC, FAHA

CVSN Marie Cowan Promising Early Career Investigator Award
Windy W. Alonso, PhD, RN

CVSN Mathy Mezey Excellence in Aging Award
Misook Lee Chung, PhD, RN, FAHA

CVSN Research Article of the Year Award
Ruth M. Masterson Creber, PhD, MSc, RN, FAHA

CVSN Stroke Article of the Year Award
Ann Leonhardt-Caprio, DNP, RN, ANP-BC, SCRN, FAHA


Council on Clinical Cardiology (CLCD)

Women in Cardiology Mentoring Award

  • Sharmila Dorbala, MD, MPH, MASNC
  • Roxana Mehran, MD, FAHA

Laennec Master Clinician Award
JoAnn Lindenfeld, MD, FAHA


Council on Genomic and Precision Medicine (GPM)

GPM Medal of Honor
Daniel Rader, MD, FAHA

GPM Mentoring Award
Svati Shah, MD, MHSc, FAHA


Council on Lifelong Congenital Heart Disease and Heart Health in the Young (Young Hearts)

Outstanding Research Award in Pediatric Cardiology

  • Simon Lee, MD
  • Kimberley Miles, MD
  • Michael A. Portman, MD, FAHA

Young Hearts Meritorious Achievement Award
Roberta G. Williams, MD, FAHA

Council Awards – Early Career Abstract Awards

Quest Diagnostics and Steve Rusckowski Early Career Investigator Award for Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine Research
Sponsored by Quest Diagnostics Center of Excellence for Cardiometabolic Testing at Cleveland Heart Lab

  • Tara Shrout Allen, MD, MSc
  • Amélie Paquin, MD, MSc 
  • Renato Quispe, MD, MHS
  • Nilay S. Shah, MD, MPH
  • Sarah Margaret Urbut, MD, PhD - WINNER

Council on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology (ATVB)

Elaine W. Raines Early Career Investigator Award

  • Sarvesh Chelvanambi, PhD - WINNER
  • Aikaterini Gatsiou, PhD, MSc
  • Khalia Primer
  • Adil Rasheed, PhD

Council on Basic Cardiovascular Sciences (BCVS)

Louis N. and Arnold M. Katz Basic Science Research Prize for Early Career Investigators

  • Erik A. Blackwood, PhD
  • Yang Cao, PhD
  • Jingshu Chen, PhD
  • Inna Rabinovich-Nikitin, PhD - WINNER

Melvin L. Marcus Early Career Investigator Award in Cardiovascular Sciences

  • Ajit Magadum, PhD
  • Shruti Rawal, PhD
  • Vagner O. C. Rigaud, PhD
  • Vivek P. Jani, MS - WINNER

Council on Cardiopulmonary, Critical Care, Perioperative and Resuscitation (3CPR)

Cournand and Comroe Early Career Investigator Award

  • Zhiyu Dai, PhD
  • Lloyd David Harvey, MD, PhD - WINNER
  • Kenzo Ichimura, MD, PhD
  • Takamitsu Ikeda, MD, PhD
  • Jennifer Tegan Middleton, MBChB

Council on Cardiovascular Surgery and Anesthesia (CVSA)

Council on Cardiovascular Surgery and Anesthesia Early Career Investigator Abstract Award

  • Nikhil Mistry, MSc
  • Siavash Zamirpour - WINNER

Vivien Thomas Early Career Investigator Award

  • Sharif A. Sabe, MD
  • Jakob Wollborn, MD
  • Cynthia Xu, MD
  • Weiang Yan, MD - WINNER

Council on Cardiovascular and Stroke Nursing (CVSN)

Martha N. Hill Early Career Investigator Award

  • Soojung Ahn, PhD, RN - WINNER
  • Solim Lee, PhD, RN
  • Meghan Reading Turchioe, PhD, MPH, RN

Council on Clinical Cardiology (CLCD)

Laennec Fellow in Training (FIT) Clinician Award

  • Evan K. Harmon, MD
  • Anantha S. Madgula, MD
  • Nitin Malik, MD
  • John W. Ostrominski, MD
  • Ayesha Salahuddin, MD - WINNER

Samuel A. Levine Early Career Clinical Investigator Award

  • Jonathan Ariyaratnam, MB Bchir, MA, Mres, MRCP
  • Aakriti Gupta, MD, MSc
  • Cian P. McCarthy, MB, BCh, BAO
  • Matthew W. Segar, MD, MS - WINNER
  • Brian Yu

Council on Cardiovascular Radiology and Intervention (CVRI)

Melvin Judkins Early Career Clinical Investigator Award

  • Nasir Hussain, MD
  • Takako Nagata, MD - WINNER
  • Chaitanya Rojulpote, MBBS
  • Lingyu Xu, MD, PhD

Council on Epidemiology and Prevention

Elizabeth Barrett-Connor Research Award for Early Career Investigators

  • Joanna Nicole Assadourian
  • Minoo Bagheri, PhD, MSc
  • Kosuke Inoue, MD, PhD
  • Xiaoming Jia, MD
  • Veer Sangha - WINNER

Council on Genomic and Precision Medicine (GPM)

Genomic and Precision Medicine Early Career Investigator Award

  • Derek Klarin, MD - WINNER
  • Vibhu Parcha, MD
  • Prashant Rao, MBBS, MRCP
  • Elizabeth Zhao

Council on Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health

Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health Early Career Investigator Award

  • Nour Makarem, PhD - WINNER
  • Amgad Mentias, MD, MS
  • Alice-Mihaela Mezincescu, PhD, MRCP, DM

Council on Lifelong Congenital Heart Disease and Heart Health in the Young (Young Hearts)

Young Hearts Early Career Investigator Award

  • Benjamin S. Frank, MD
  • Anastacia M. Garcia, PhD
  • Robin Perelli, MS - WINNER
  • Aditya Sengupta, MD
  • Rachel Shustak, MD

Council on Peripheral Vascular Disease (PVD)

Jay D. Coffman Early Career Investigator Award

  • Jonathan Hanna, MD
  • Michael Levin, MD - WINNER