AHA Selects Six Distinguished Scientists for 2024

Robert O. Bonow,
MD, MS, FAHA
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medine Chicago, IL

Robert O. Bonow, MD, MS, FAHA is the Goldberg Distinguished Professor of Cardiology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He served as Senior Investigator and Deputy Chief of the Cardiology Branch of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at the NIH from 1980 to 1992., and was the Chief of the Division of Cardiology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine from 1992 to 2011. His research focuses on the application of cardiovascular imaging to investigate the natural history and clinical outcomes of patients with valvular heart disease., hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and ischemic left ventricular dysfunction. He has authored or co-authored over 650 papers of medical literature and 120 book chapters. He is the Editor-in-Chief of JAMA Cardiology and an editor of Braunwald's Heart Disease: A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine.

Dr. Bonow has served on the Board of Scientific Counselors and Board of Extramural Advisors of the NHLBI and the Subspecialty Board on Cardiovascular Disease of the American Board of Internal Medicine. He is a past president of the American Heart Association, a Master of the American College of Cardiology and a Master of the American College of Physicians.

Among his honors are the NIH Director’s Award and the U.S. Public Health Service Commendation Medal and Outstanding Service Medal. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Leadership Award, Distinguished Achievement Award, Gold Heart Award, and James B. Herrick Award of the American Heart Association; the Distinguished Fellowship Award, Distinguished Service Award, and Distinguished Scientist Award of the American College of Cardiology; and the John Phillips Memorial Award of the American College of Physicians.

Pedro J. del Nido,
MD, FAHA
Boston Children’s Hospital
Boston, MA

Dr. del Nido was born in Santiago, Chile and emigrated to the U.S. at the age of 10. He attended undergraduate and medical school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He completed a General Surgery internship and residency at Boston University and entered Cardio-Thoracic residency at the University of Toronto. Prior to starting his clinical training, he spent a year in the laboratory at the Banting Institute of the University of Toronto. It was there that Dr. del Nido began his initial work on myocardial preservation, a focus of research that he continued through his residency and early career in congenital cardiac surgery. Dr. del Nido spent an additional year as a clinical fellow at the Hospital for Sick Children-Toronto.

Dr. del Nido started his career at the University of Illinois-Chicago and then moved to the University of Pittsburgh, where the development of a solution to preserve the heart during prolonged heart surgery was completed. This solution, now known as “del Nido cardioplegia” is one of the most widely used cardioplegia formulations throughout the world. In 1994 Dr. del Nido joined the faculty at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He rose to the rank of Professor of Surgery and in 2004 was named William E. Ladd Professor of Child Surgery at Harvard Medical School and Cardiac Surgeon-in-Chief at Boston Children’s Hospital.

Dr. del Nido’s clinical focus has been on creating reconstructive techniques for complex congenital heart defects. Recently, recognizing the large unmet need, Dr. del Nido has worked to develop cardiac medical devices designed for the needs of growing children. This effort has led to a novel growth-accommodating heart valve that is now in clinical trials. He has received NIH funding throughout his career, has over 500 peer-reviewed publications, and over 50 awarded and pending patents.

Jiang He, MD,
PhD, FAHA
UT Southwestern
Dallas, TX

Dr. He is a nationally and internationally renowned scientist in epidemiological, clinical, and translational research in cardiometabolic diseases. Dr. He has served as principal investigator and co-investigator for more than 50 major NIH research awards and has authored over 750 scientific articles published in top-tier biomedical journals.

Dr. He has led landmark studies that have documented: (1) cardiovascular disease and cancer as the leading causes of death, with hypertension and cigarette smoking as the primary preventable risk factors for premature death in China; (2) the rapid acceleration of the global burden of obesity and diabetes, accompanied by large global disparities in hypertension; (3) the increased risk of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality associated with high sodium intake in individuals with obesity or chronic kidney disease; (4) the safety of early antihypertensive treatment in patients with acute ischemic stroke; and (5) the effectiveness of a community health worker-led intervention in lowering blood pressure, improving hypertension control, and significantly reducing cardiovascular events, all-cause dementia, and total mortality. These study findings contribute to cardiometabolic disease prevention in resource-constrained populations globally.

Dr. He is a dedicated educator who has mentored over 100 master’s students and more than 50 doctoral students and post-doctoral fellows throughout his career. Additionally, he has mentored over 20 junior faculty investigators and many of whom have developed successful research careers and become leaders in their fields.

Dr. He has received numerous awards from local, national, and international academic institutions and professional societies, including the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Johns Hopkins University, the Research Hall of Fame induction from Tulane University, the Detlev Ganten Excellence Award in Hypertension and Global Health Implementation from the World Hypertension League, and the Abraham Lilienfeld Award from the American College of Epidemiology. In 2023, Dr. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine ‘for transforming cardiovascular disease prevention efforts worldwide.

Debra K. Moser,
PhD, RN, FAHA
University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY

Dr. Debra K. Moser is a Professor at the University of Tennessee, and Professor and Linda C. Gill Chair of Cardiovascular Nursing, Emeritus at the University of Kentucky. She is the director of the RICH (Research and Interventions for Cardiovascular Health) Heart Program, an international research collaborative dedicated to cardiovascular research and mentorship. In addition to her academic position, she is the Editor of the Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing. Her research program focuses on intervention research and testing biobehavioral self-care interventions in populations with notable health disparities including rural individuals, caregivers and other vulnerable patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) and heart failure to improve quality of life, morbidity, and mortality. She also studies CVD risk reduction in rural individuals at high risk for CVD and heart failure. Through all of her work, examination of the impact of depressive symptoms on outcomes is an underpinning. Her work has been recognized with more than 30 awards, including the HFSA Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Lembright, Dracup Mentorship and Heart Failure Research Awards from the American Heart Association. She has been recognized with the President’s Research Award from FNINR. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, the American Heart Association, and the Preventative Cardiovascular Nurses Association. Her funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute exceeds $40 million. She has published more than 450 data-based journal articles, 25 chapters, and 3 books.

Jane W. Newburger,
MD, MPH, FAHA
Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA

Jane W. Newburger, MD, MPH, FAHA is the Commonwealth Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Associate Cardiologist-in-Chief for Academic Affairs at Boston Children’s Hospital. An international authority in pediatric cardiovascular disease, her research has focused on clinical outcomes and neurodevelopment in congenital heart disease, Kawasaki disease, and the multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. She has published over 600 peer-reviewed manuscripts, reviews, and chapters. A member of the National Academy of Medicine, she has received the Distinguished Scientist Award (Clinical) of the American College of Cardiology (ACC), the Clinical Research Prize of the American Heart Association (AHA), the AHA Council Meritorious Achievement Award, the AHA Paul Dudley White Award, and the Founder’s Award of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). She has served on the NHLBI Advisory Council, leadership councils in the AAP, ACC, and AHA, and the Board of Trustees of the ACC. She previously chaired the Clinical Science Subcommittee of the NHLBI Task Force on Pediatric Cardiovascular Disease and the AHA Rheumatic Fever, Endocarditis, and Kawasaki Disease Committee. She is a former Associate Editor and then Senior Editor of Circulation and currently serves on an array of journal editorial boards. She has mentored generations of trainees and junior faculty; is a longstanding PI of a T32 award in pediatric cardiovascular research; and received both the Harvard Medical School’s Silen Lifetime Mentoring Award and the Joseph P. Martin Award for the Advancement of Women Faculty. Continuously funded by the NIH since 1982, her weighted Relative Citation ratio is 2250, and she has 33 published manuscripts above the 99th NIH percentile for citation. In addition to her research, Dr. Newburger maintains a busy clinical practice comprised of patients with congenital and acquired heart disease, keeping her “grounded” regarding important issues affecting the well-being of children with heart disease.

Stephen G. Young,
MD, FAHA
University of California
Los Angeles, CA

Stephen G. Young is an American physician–scientist known for investigating the genetics and molecular physiology of apolipoprotein B, the intravascular processing of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins by lipoprotein lipase, and the role of nuclear lamins in health and disease. Currently, Young is a Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Human Genetics at UCLA, where he has worked closely with two faculty colleagues (Loren G. Fong and Anne P. Beigneux). Young defined the first APOB mutations causing familial hypobetalipoproteinemia. He discovered that GPIHBP1, a protein of capillary endothelial cells, is crucial for the lipolytic processing of triglyceride rich lipoproteins. GPIHBP1 captures LPL from within the interstitial spaces (where it is secreted by myocytes) and shuttles it across endothelial cells to its site of action within the capillary lumen. In the absence of GPIHBP1, LPL is stranded within the interstitial spaces, resulting in markedly impaired intravascular triglyceride hydrolysis and severe hypertriglyceridemia. Young also demonstrated that the hypertriglyceridemia in the setting of APOA5 deficiency is caused by reduced amounts of LPL inside capillaries. APOA5 functions to suppress the ability of the ANGPTL3/ANGPTL8 complex to detach LPL from its binding sites within capillaries,

Young studied the history of science at Princeton University and obtained a medical degree from Washington University in St. Louis. He trained in internal medicine at UCSF and cardiovascular diseases at UCSD; he is board-certified in both disciplines. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American MISSING THE REST OF THE COPY - CAN'T FIND