Emelia Benjamin, MD, ScM, to Receive AHA 2025 Eugene Braunwald Academic Mentorship Award
Emelia Benjamin, MD, ScM, FAHAEmelia J. Benjamin, MD, ScM, FAHA, will receive the 2025 Eugene Braunwald Academic Mentorship Award at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2025. She will be recognized with the award during the Presidential Session on Sunday, Nov. 9. The meeting is a premier global exchange of the latest scientific advancements, research and evidence-based clinical practice updates in cardiovascular science.
Named for legendary cardiologist Eugene Braunwald, the award honors an individual with a sustained record of excellence in teaching and mentoring the next generation of faculty researchers, educators and health care professionals. Recipients of the award are recognized for their lasting impact on cardiovascular care and research through their extensive mentoring of residents and fellows.
Benjamin is the Jay and Louise Coffman Professor in Vascular Medicine at the BU Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and professor of epidemiology at the BU School of Public Health. She has developed and led ongoing faculty development programs that support early- and mid-career clinicians and researchers from diverse backgrounds. She has also directed multi-institutional research fellowships supported by the Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including an ongoing international atrial fibrillation genetics fellowship and an NIH K12 program, Boston University Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health. Her NIH-funded research has focused on atrial fibrillation, mobile health, inflammation and chronic pain, and she has served as principal investigator or co-investigator for NIH-funded trials continuously since 1998.
The legacy of Benjamin’s career is reflected in the success of her trainees. Many of her trainees received NIH Career Development Awards, which reflects the strength of their mentorship and training plans, and went on to launch numerous careers in cardiovascular research. In her numerous roles for the Heart Association, Benjamin has been a strong advocate for early-career scientists, including serving as former chair of the Council on Functional Genomics and Translational Biology to develop a strong Early Career Committee, participation on many Early Career Panels and mentoring individual members.
“Dr. Emelia Benjamin is a distinguished scientist and powerful advocate for the next generation of cardiovascular researchers,” said Stacey E. Rosen, MD, FAHA, the American Heart Association’s 2025-2026 volunteer president, executive director for Northwell’s Katz Institute for Women’s Health, senior vice president of Women’s Health at Northwell, the Partners Council Professor of Women’s Health and professor of cardiology at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell in New York City. “Her commitment to training diverse and talented early career professionals continues to shape the future of cardiovascular science and medicine.”
Among her many honors are several of the Heart Association’s highest awards: a Distinguished Scientist Award (2022), the Gold Heart Award (2016), the Population Research Prize (2016), the Paul Dudley White Award (2015), the Laennec Clinician/Educator Lecture (2019), the Genomics and Precision Medicine Distinguished Achievement Award (2019), the Women in Cardiology Mentoring Award, and the Functional Genomics and Translational Biology Mentoring Award. She was also recognized with the Louis B. Russell Jr. Memorial Award for her work supporting women and people from diverse backgrounds in cardiovascular science and medicine and advancing equitable health in under-resourced communities.
An elected member of the Association of American Physicians, Benjamin has received national recognition for her excellence in research, education, service, and mentoring. She was honored with the Dr. Daniel D. Savage Memorial Science Award from the Association of Black Cardiologists for her impactful research in atrial fibrillation epidemiology. She was also recognized with the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine’s Diversity and Inclusion Award for her advocacy and leadership in equity and inclusion. She has informally guided hundreds of colleagues and formally mentored more than 60 faculty members and trainees, many of whom have secured independent research funding and faculty positions around the world that contribute to the ongoing advancements in research.
“I am deeply honored to be recognized with this award,” said Benjamin. “Mentoring has been one of the most meaningful parts of my career. There is nothing more fulfilling than seeing my mentees thrive, whether in research, clinical care or academic leadership. I owe the successes of my career to my mentees. It is especially humbling to receive an award named for Dr. Eugene Braunwald, whose legacy as a mentor and scientist has informed my career and generations of cardiovascular health scientists and clinicians.”
Benjamin earned her medical degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, a master’s degree in epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a bachelor’s degree in psychology and social relations from Harvard University. In recognition of her outstanding contributions to cardiovascular research and public health, Benjamin received an honorary doctor of medical science degree (Doctor Honoris Causa) from Aalborg University in Denmark in 2025.
In addition to serving as a leading investigator with the Framingham Heart Study, a breakthrough research project that identified many of the major risk factors for heart disease, she has authored more than 800 peer-reviewed publications with a focus on the genetics, epidemiology, clinical outcomes and prognosis of a number of cardiovascular diseases. Her leadership roles include co-chairing the 2008 National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s (NHLBI’s) Atrial Fibrillation (AF) Prevention Workshop, the NHLBI AF Working Group and contributing to the 2023 ACC/AHA/ACCP/HRS Guideline for the Diagnosis and Management of Atrial Fibrillation.