Emelia J. Benjamin, MD, ScM

Associate Provost for Faculty Development, BUMC & Jay and Louise Coffman Professor,, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

Emelia J. Benjamin, MD, ScM, FACC, FAHA, received her AB at Harvard, her MD at Case Western Reserve University, and her Epidemiology ScM at Harvard School of Public Health. She is a Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at Boston University and is a cardiologist at Boston Medical Center. She is a Robert Dawson Evans Distinguished Professor of Medicine at Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine.

She is author of over 800 peer-reviewed publications that focus on the genetics, epidemiology, and prognosis of a variety of cardiovascular conditions and markers including atrial fibrillation, vascular function, and systemic inflammation. She has been continuously NIH funded since 1998, and currently is multi-Principal Investigator on an R01 atrial fibrillation grant [2R01HL092577], several chronic pain grants, and is the Training Director on the Boston University American Heart Association Strategically Focused Research Network on Cardio-Oncology. She is an internationally recognized expert on the epidemiology of atrial fibrillation. Dr. Benjamin has Co-Chaired the NIH National Heart Lung and Blood Institutes’ (NHLBI) Atrial Fibrillation Working Group, which advised the NHLBI’s atrial fibrillation research agenda, and resulted in 6 publications.

Dr. Benjamin has conducted research at the Framingham Study since 1988. She is a Member of the Executive Committee, and is Co-Director of the Medical Endpoints Committee. She was Principal Investigator of the grant that recruited the second generation of the Framingham Study's ethnic/racial minority cohort, the Omni Study.

In addition to her research, she is the inaugural Associate Provost for Faculty Development for Boston University Medical Campus, and the inaugural Vice Chair for Faculty Development and Diversity, BU Department of Medicine. She co-designed and co-leads Faculty Development Programs for Early, Mid-Career, Under-Represented Ethnic and Racial, Women, and Clinical Leaders. In 2023 she completed the Columbia University Advanced Coaching Certification.

A passionate and dedicated mentor, she has won local and national awards for mentoring, education, and research. She was inducted into the Association of American Physicians and she won the 2020 Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award.

An active volunteer for the American Heart Association since 1992, she has served on a variety of local and national Committees. She is Past-Chair of the American Heart Association’s Functional Genomics and Translational Biology Council and Study Section, and the annual Heart and Stroke Statistical Update. She received the 2015 Paul Dudley White Award, the 2016 AHA Gold Heart Award, the 2016 Population Research Prize, the 2019 Laennec Clinician/ Educator Lecturer, and the Genomics and Precision Medicine 2019 Distinguished Achievement Award, and the 2022 Distinguished Scientist Award.

Publications

  • Published 5/5/2025

    Sibley S, Bedford J, Wetterslev M, Johnston B, Garside T, Kanji S, Whitehouse T, Welters I, Ostermann M, Balik M, Lancini D, Dharmaraj B, Benjamin EJ, Walkey AJ, Cuthbertson BH. Atrial fibrillation in critical illness: state of the art. Intensive Care Med. 2025 May 05. PMID: 40323451.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 4/7/2025

    Yao Z, Tasdighi E, Dardari ZA, Jha KK, Osuji N, Rajan T, Boakye E, Rodriguez CJ, Matsushita K, Simonsick EM, Lima JAC, Widome R, Cohen DL, Appel LJ, Khera A, Hall ME, Judd S, Cole SA, Vasan RS, Benjamin EJ, Bhatnagar A, DeFilippis AP, Blaha MJ. Correction to: Differential Associations of Cigar, Pipe, and Smokeless Tobacco Use Versus Combustible Cigarette Use With Subclinical Markers of Inflammation, Thrombosis, and Atherosclerosis: The Cross-Cohort Collaboration-Tobacco Working Group. Circulation. 2025 Apr 08; 151(14):e922. PMID: 40193538.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 4/5/2025

    Song JJ, Stafford RA, Pohlmann JE, Kim ISY, Cheekati M, Dennison S, Brush B, Chatzidakis S, Huang Q, Smirnakis SM, Gilmore EJ, Mohammed S, Abdalkader M, Benjamin EJ, Dupuis J, Greer DM, Ong CJ. Later midline shift is associated with better post-hospitalization discharge status after large middle cerebral artery stroke. Sci Rep. 2025 Apr 05; 15(1):11738. PMID: 40188256.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 3/19/2025

    Erhabor J, Yao Z, Tasdighi E, Shahawy OE, Benjamin EJ, Bhatnagar A, Blaha MJ. Association of e-cigarette use, psychological distress, and substance use: Insights from the All of Us Research Program. Addict Behav. 2025 Jul; 166:108322. PMID: 40112576.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 3/18/2025

    Yao Z, Tasdighi E, Dardari ZA, Jha KK, Osuji N, Rajan T, Boakye E, Rodriguez CJ, Matsushita K, Simonsick EM, Lima JAC, Widome R, Cohen DL, Appel LJ, Khera A, Hall ME, Judd SE, Cole SA, Vasan RS, Benjamin EJ, Lotufo PA, Benseñor IM, El Khoudary SR, Barinas-Mitchell E, Janssen I, Psaty BM, Eaton CB, LaMonte MJ, Cawthon PM, Orwoll ES, Irvin MR, Bhatnagar A, DeFilippis AP, El-Shahaway O, Blaha MJ. Association Between Cigarette Smoking and Subclinical Markers of Cardiovascular Harm. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2025 Mar 18; 85(10):1018-1034. PMID: 40074467.

    Read at: PubMed

Other Positions

  • Professor, Medicine
    Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
  • Professor, Epidemiology
    Boston University School of Public Health
  • Primary Investigator
    Framingham Heart Study
  • Member, Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute
    Boston University
  • Member, Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research
    Boston University

Education

  • Case Western Reserve University, MD
  • Harvard School of Public Health, ScM