2022 Distinguished Scientist Emelia J. Benjamin, MD, ScM, FAHA

Emelia J. Benjamin, MD, ScM, FAHA
Boston University School of Medicine and School of Public Health
Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health
Associate Provost for Faculty Development, Boston University Medical Campus
Boston, MA

Dr. Benjamin is a Boston University (BU) Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology and a cardiologist at Boston Medical Center, New England’s largest safety net hospital. She is a foremost international expert on the epidemiology of atrial fibrillation (AF). She has made original contributions to describing AF’s risk factors, heritability, genetics, risk prediction, lifetime risk, secular trends, relations with sepsis, and increased risk of heart failure and death. She co-leads the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s AF Research Working Group, defining future research directions and leading statements on AF’s screening, secondary prevention, and social determinants.

A Framingham Study investigator, she has been NIH funded since 1998 on grants related to AF, vascular function, inflammation, mobile health, and chronic pain. She has published more than 800 peer-reviewed articles and is a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher since 2014 (h index=200). She was inducted into the Association of American Physicians in 2021.

She has volunteered for the American Heart Association (AHA) since the 1990s. She has chaired the Science and Clinical Education Lifelong Learning Committee, the Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics Committee, the Functional Genomics and Translational Biology Council, and the Genomics and Translational Biology, Epidemiology Research Study Section, co-chaired the Research Leaders Academy and served as Science Representative on the national Board of Directors. She was President of the AHA Boston Board, has led diverse AHA research fellowships since 2013 and is a member of the Supporting Undergraduate Research Experiences Oversight Advisory Committee for diverse undergraduates.

Dr. Benjamin is the inaugural Associate Provost for Faculty Development, BU Medical Campus and co-designed and facilitates multiple longitudinal faculty development programs. She has also led implicit bias trainings for BU and AHA. She has won national awards for research, education, mentoring, and diversity, including the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine’s 2020 Diversity and Inclusion Award.