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About

Emelia J. Benjamin, MD, ScM, is a board-certified cardiologist at Boston Medical Center (BMC) and a Robert Dawson Evans Distinguished Professor of Medicine at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. She is also the associate provost for faculty development for Boston University Medical Campus. Dr. Benjamin has authored more than 800 peer-reviewed publications on the genetics, epidemiology, and prognosis of a variety of cardiovascular conditions. A passionate and dedicated mentor, she has won local and national awards for mentoring, education, and research, and she is an active volunteer for the American Heart Association. 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.

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Skills

Experience

Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology

Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Jul-1990 to Present
Assistant Provost for Faculty Development

Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Aug-2015 to Jan-2025
Vice Chair Faculty Development & Diversity

Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Jan-1990 to Jan-2025
Director of Echocardiography and Vascular Testing

Framingham Heart Study (FSH)

Jul-1998 to Jan-2025

Education

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston

ScM in Epidemiology

Passout Year: 2000
Harvard University

AB in Psychology and Social Relations

Passout Year: 1979

Publication

2023 ACC/AHA/ACCP/HRS Guideline for the Diagnosis and Management of Atrial Fibrillation: A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart...

Aim The “2023 ACC/AHA/ACCP/HRS Guideline for the Diagnosis and Management of Patients With Atrial Fibrillation” provides recommendations to guide clinicians in the treatment of patients...

Natural History of Asymptomatic Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction in the Community

Background— Information is limited regarding the rates of progression to congestive heart failure (CHF) and death in individuals with asymptomatic left ventricular systolic dysfunction (AL...

Research Article
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Impact of Glucose Intolerance and Insulin Resistance on Cardiac Structure and Function: Sex-Related Differences in the Framingham Heart Study

Background— Although insulin resistance has been implicated in the pathogenesis of left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy, previous studies have yielded inconsistent results and are limited by ...

Genetic diversity fuels gene discovery for tobacco and alcohol use

Tobacco and alcohol use are heritable behaviours associated with 15% and 5.3% of worldwide deaths, respectively, due largely to broad increased risk for disease and injury1,2,3,4. These subs...

Deep learning enables genetic analysis of the human thoracic aorta

Enlargement or aneurysm of the aorta predisposes to dissection, an important cause of sudden death. We trained a deep learning model to evaluate the dimensions of the ascending and descendin...

Sequencing of 53,831 diverse genomes from the NHLBI TOPMed Program

The Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) programme seeks to elucidate the genetic architecture and biology of heart, lung, blood and sleep disorders, with the ultimate goal of improvi...

Global Burden of Cardiovascular Diseases and Risk Factors, 1990–2019: Update From the GBD 2019 Study

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), principally ischemic heart disease (IHD) and stroke, are the leading cause of global mortality and a major contributor to disability. This paper reviews the m...

Epidemiology of Atrial Fibrillation in the 21st Century: Novel Methods and New Insights

Accompanying the aging of populations worldwide, and increased survival with chronic diseases, the incidence and prevalence of atrial fibrillation (AF) are rising, justifying the term global...

Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics—2020 Update: A Report From the American Heart Association

Background: The American Heart Association, in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health, annually reports on the most up-to-date statistics related to heart disease, stroke, and c...

Sex and Race/Ethnicity Differences in Atrial Fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (AF), a worldwide epidemic, contributes to frequent hospitalizations, stroke, heart failure, disability, mortality, and health-resource consumption (1). AF affects people...

Projects

Jun-2004 to May-2010

Framingham: Inflammation, Genes &Cardiovascular Disease

USD 3,941,014

Funded by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (Bethesda, US)

Dec-1998 to Nov-2003

ENDOTHELIAL VASAMOTOR FUNCTION IN THE FRAMINGHAM STUDY

USD 595,086

Funded by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (Bethesda, US)

Aug-2015 to May-2019

AFGen Consortium: Atrial Fibrillation Genomics to Functional Analyses

USD 772,406

Funded by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (Bethesda, US)

Apr-2008 to Mar-2018

Identification of Common Genetic Variants for Atrial Fibrillation and PR Interval

USD 12,760,142

Funded by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (Bethesda, US)

May-2002 to Mar-2007

Vascular Function in the Framingham Third Generation

USD 2,396,612

Funded by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (Bethesda, US)

Jul-2018 to Jun-2022

Advancing Atrial Fibrillation Precision Medicine

USD 712,285

Funded by American Heart Association (Dallas, US)

Our proposed AHA SFRN Center is entitled "Advancing Atrial Fibrillation Precision Medicine (AAFPM) Center." The AAFPM Center represents 3 interrelated translational projects submitted by a highly collaborative research team with an extraordinarily productive ten-year record of international leadership in atrial fibrillation (AF) research. The Basic Project will further our understanding of the genetic predisposition to AF in ethnic/racial minorities and the molecular underpinnings of top genetic risk loci. The Clinical Project will develop and implement a rational and personalized approach to AF risk estimation that can inform management decisions by combining clinical and genetic risk factors in patients with ischemic stroke. The Population Project will develop models for lifetime risk of AF based on clinical and genetic factors, and subsequently will examine the lifetime risk of complications in individuals with AF. The three projects together will advance our understanding of the genetic and environmental risks and burden of clinically recognized AF and unrecognized AF in the community. Furthermore, we propose to sponsor a Cross-Center AF SFRN Virtual Fellowship to accelerate synergy and collaborations across Centers and Disciplines to train the next generation of translational AF scientists and further the mission of the American Heart Association.
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Sep-2013 to Jun-2018

RESEARCH TRAINING AND EDUCATION CORE (CORE D)

USD 357,777

Funded by NHLBI (Bethesda, MD, NIH, US)

Sep-2006 to Jun-2012

Aging and Inflammation: Longitudinal Markers and Genetics in the Framingham Study

USD 1,761,043

Funded by National Institute on Aging (Bethesda, US)

Jul-2000 to Jun-2004

INFLAMMATION: CORRELATES AND PROGNOSIS IN FRAMINGHAM

USD 1,154,395

Funded by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (Bethesda, US)

Sep-2009 to Jul-2012

Risk prediction of atrial fibrillation: clinical, biological and genetic markers

USD 967,223

Funded by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (Bethesda, US)

May-2010 to Apr-2014

Patterns of Health Care Use, Treatment &Outcomes in Atrial Fibrillation: PATH-AF

USD 1,401,070

Funded by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (Bethesda, US)

Certificates

Issued : Dec 2022
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  • dott image Event : Certificate of ...
Certificate of Achievement for the Front-end Coaching Intensive (FECI)
https://www.credly.com/badges/338f120e-f238-48a5-a983-8034ed060f8f/linked_in_profile Columbia Coaching Center of Excellence (CCOE) is a strategic partnership between Teachers College and the Columbia Business School. FECI focuses on learning and applying 3 foundations (i.e., 4 guiding principles and 4 of 9 core coaching competencies, embedded in a comprehensive 3-phased process - FECI addresses 7 of 9 coaching components) that comprise the Columbia Approach to Executive and Organizational Coaching. FECI is a 5-day intensive offered for 4.2 Continuing Education Units (CEUs).
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Membership

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Chair, AHA Cardiovascular Epidemiology Council, Statistics Committee

American Heart Association (AHA)

From year 2015 to Present

Honours & Awards

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Distinguished Scientist Award
Awarded by:

American Heart Association

Year: 2022
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Robert Dawson Evans Distinguished Professor of Medicine
Awarded by:

BUSM, Department of Medicine

Year: 2021
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Association of American Physicians, Inductee
Awarded by:

Association of American Physicians

Year: 2021
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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award
Awarded by:

Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine

Year: 2020
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Laennec Clinician/ Educator Lecturer
Awarded by:

American Heart Association

Year: 2019
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Distinguished Achievement, GPM Council
Awarded by:

American Heart Association

Year: 2019
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Gold Heart Award
Awarded by:

American Heart Association

Year: 2016
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Population Scientist of the Year
Awarded by:

American Heart Association

Year: 2016
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Paul Dudley White Award
Awarded by:

American Heart Association

Year: 2015
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Joel G. Caslowitz, MD Award for Excellence in Teaching–Hospital
Awarded by:

BUSM, Department of Medicine

Year: 2015
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Functional Genomics and Translational Biology Mentoring Award
Awarded by:

American Heart Association

Year: 2013
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Dr. Daniel D. Savage Memorial Science Award
Awarded by:

Association of Black Cardiologists

Year: 2012
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Women in Cardiology Mentoring Award
Awarded by:

American Heart Association, National Clinical Cardiology Council

Year: 2012
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Dr. Daniel D. Savage Memorial Science Award
Awarded by:

Association of Black Cardiologists, Inc

Year: 2012
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Excellence in Research Mentoring Award
Awarded by:

BUSM, Department of Medicine

Year: 2011
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Elected Member
Awarded by:

Association of University Cardiologists

Year: 2008
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Great Communicator Award
Awarded by:

American Heart Association, New England Affiliate

Year: 2002
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Wendy Kline Memorial Award for Outstanding Volunteer Leadership
Awarded by:

American Heart Association, Boston Division

Year: 2001
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Gender Equity Award
Awarded by:

American Medical Women’s Association

Year: 1995