Emelia Benjamin Named 2015 Paul Dudley White Award Winner.

Emelia J. Benjamin, a professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health and a professor of medicine at the School of Medicine, has been named the recipient of the 2015 Paul Dudley White Award from the American Heart Association (AHA).

Benjamin is an attending cardiologist at Boston Medical Center and co-principal investigator of the Framingham Heart Study, one of the world’s longest-running longitudinal studies of cardiovascular disease. Benjamin is scheduled to receive the award on May 2 at the Boston AHA Heart Ball.

The award is given annually to a Massachusetts physician who has made a distinguished contribution to the association’s mission of building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular disease and stroke. It is named in honor of famed Boston cardiologist Paul Dudley White, a founder of the AHA whose interest in preventative medicine helped promote healthy diet and exercise to combat heart disease.

Benjamin has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed publications that focus on the genetics, epidemiology, and prognosis of a variety of cardiovascular conditions. Current research examines the epidemiology, outcomes/comparative effectiveness, and genetics of atrial fibrillation.

She has conducted research at the Framingham Study since 1988, and serves as director of the Echocardiography and Vascular Function Laboratories and a member of the Executive Committee. She is principal investigator of the grant that recruited the second generation of the Framingham Study’s ethnic and racial minority cohort, the Omni Study.