Boston Scientist Awarded American Heart Association Prize for Translating Bench Research into Identifiable Markers of CVD Risk

CHICAGO, Nov. 17, 2014— The American Heart Association awarded its 2014 Population Research Prize to Vasan R. Ramachandran, M.D., of Boston University School of Medicine, “for brilliantly seizing upon opportunities to translate cutting-edge bench science into an epidemiological context, thereby making fundamental contributions to identifying systemic markers for cardiovascular risk, both here and in developing countries.”

Ramachandran, chief of the Section of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine in the Department of Medicine at the Boston school and director of the Framingham Heart Study, received the prize yesterday during opening ceremonies of the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2014 at Chicago’s McCormick Place Convention Center. Association President Elliott Antman, M.D presented the prize, a citation and $5,000 honorarium.

In presenting the award, Antman said Ramachandran “is widely admired as a role model for trainees and early career faculty as well as for his many important findings in translational epidemiology.” The Boston scientist’s publications of some 560 peer-reviewed articles in high-impact journals attest to his wide-ranging research productivity. Ten of his publications have been cited more than 1,000 times, and in 2013 his work was cited 6,145 times.

In the last two decades, Ramachandran has made many important contributions to cardiovascular epidemiology, Antman said. These include systemic markers of cardiovascular risk, hypertension, congestive heart failure, risk re-classification and diseases in developing countries. A native of India, the Boston scientist continues to collaborate and conduct research there.

“Dr. Ramachandran’s findings recognizing four stages of risk leading to symptomatic heart failure have been incorporated into AHA’s informational materials,” Antman noted. “This appreciation of heart failure progression represents a critical step toward preventing its emergence.”

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