Misplaced Pages

This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. (September 2024)

Eugene Braunwald (born August 15, 1929) is an Austrian-born American cardiologist.

Early life

Braunwald was born to Jewish parents Wilhelm Braunwald and Clara Wallach in Vienna. He obtained his A.B. and M.D. at New York University, then completed his residency in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Braunwald was inspired to pursue a career in cardiology after practicing in the Bellevue Cardiology Clinic, under Ludwig Eichna, during his time as a medical student at New York University. He also attended several cardiology courses in Mexico City, at the National Institute of Cardiology [es]. He always thought that the Mexican School of Cardiology was above any other. "We have the technology but they have the practice. The best book of cardiology is the patient itself", he always argued.

In 1952, Braunwald married Nina Starr, a thoracic surgeon and medical researcher, with whom he had three children. Nina Starr Braunwald died in 1992. Several years later, he married his second wife, Elaine, formerly a senior hospital administrator.

Career

Braunwald served as chief of cardiology and clinical director at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health. He was then recruited to the University of California, San Diego where from 1968 to 1972 he was the founding Chair of the Department of Medicine, bringing John Ross Jr. with him to be the founding Chief of Cardiology. He has since been at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, where he served from 1972 to 1996 as Chair of the Department of Medicine.

Of the top 25 biomedical scientists whose work is cited most often by other scientists, nearly half have held appointments in this one department, most becoming members of the Department during Braunwald’s tenure as Chair. This is remarkable, given that there are over 200 other academic medical centers in the United States, alone, containing tens of thousands of scientists.

Braunwald's contributions have been recognized by his election as a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the creation of a permanently endowed chair in his name by Harvard Medical School, and the establishment of the annual academic mentorship award by the American Heart Association.

Awards

In 1966, he was awarded the Jacobi Medallion by the Mount Sinai Alumni (Mount Sinai Hospital) "for distinguished achievement in the field of medicine or extraordinary service to the Hospital, the School, or the Alumni."

In 1986, he received the Distinguished Scientist Award from American College of Cardiology.

In 2001, Braunwald received The Warren Alpert Foundation Prize. In 2002, Braunwald received the King Faisal Prize for Medicine. He shared the prize with co-laureate Professor Finn Waagstein.

In 2004, he became the inaugural winner of the Libin/AHFMR Prize for Excellence in Cardiovascular Research.

In 2009, he was chairman of a policy group that severely limited outside pay for Harvard physicians.

In 2010, he received an honorary degree from the University of Rochester. In 2013, he received a degree honoris causa from the University of Salerno, heir of the ancient Schola Medica Salernitana.

Works

Braunwald has over 1000 publications in peer-reviewed journals. His work has dramatically expanded knowledge of heart disease in the area of congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease, and valvular heart disease. According to a biographer who studied the research publications of leading cardiologists, Braunwald has "had more publications in the top general medical and cardiology journals than any of the more than 42,000 authors" in PubMed, a database of medical authors.

He is the editor of the cardiology textbook Braunwald's Heart Disease, which is now in its 12th edition. Braunwald was instrumental in running the TIMI (Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction) studies, which developed the concepts of thrombosis superimposed on atherosclerosis as the pathological bases for acute myocardial infarction, and has led to treatments that reduce damage to the heart from a heart attack. He was also an editor of Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, a textbook of internal medicine, for over 30 years.

Controversy

Braunwald's lab was the setting for the case of John Darsee. Young fellow researchers in the laboratory caught Darsee fabricating results. Braunwald denied knowledge of this academic misconduct despite two earlier accusations and his own internal investigation which found "no misleading information".

References

1. Life and times of leading cardiologists, medscape.com. Accessed February 19, 2024.
2. "Interview, Clinical Chemistry".
3. ^ Braunwald, E (February 2001). "Nina Starr Braunwald: some reflections on the first woman heart surgeon". The Annals of Thoracic Surgery. 71 (2 Suppl): S6–7. doi:10.1016/s0003-4975(00)02397-3. PMID 11235772.
4. Profile, Vanderbilt.edu. Accessed February 19, 2024.
5. Communication, BWH Strategic (May 2, 2019). "Tower Dedicated in Honor of Eugene Braunwald, MD". Brigham Bulletin.
6. "World's Best Medicine Scientists: H-Index Medicine Science Ranking 2024 | Research.com".
7. "How many academic medical centers are in the U.S.?". www.definitivehc.com.
8. "The Mount Sinai Alumni". Archived from the original on October 28, 2008. Retrieved October 31, 2008.
9. "ACC Distinguished Awards Program - American College of Cardiology". American College of Cardiology. Archived from the original on September 27, 2015. Retrieved July 8, 2015.
10. https://kingfaisalprize.org/professor-eugene-braunwald King Faisal Prize: Professor Eugene Braunwald. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
11. "Braunwald Libin/AHFMR Prize announcement". Canadian Journal of Cardiology. Archived from the original on May 26, 2011. Retrieved December 23, 2008.
12. Wilson, Duff (January 3, 2010). "Harvard Teaching Hospitals Cap Outside Pay". The New York Times. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
13. Degree honoris causa from the University of Salerno Retrieved October 26, 2013.
14. Lee, Thomas H. (2013). Eugene Braunwald and the Rise of Modern Medicine. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-72497-6.
15. "Dishonesty in Medical Research" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on May 21, 2013.

External links

• New York Times article 1/15/1987
• New York Times article 6/14/1983
• Dr. Eugene Braunwald biography

• 1929 births
• Living people
• American cardiologists
• Jewish emigrants from Austria after the Anschluss to the United States
• University of California, San Diego faculty
• Harvard Medical School faculty
• New York University Grossman School of Medicine alumni
• Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
• Fellows of the American College of Cardiology
• Members of the National Academy of Medicine