World Heart Awards 2023

Eugene Braunwald

Dr Eugene Braunwald is a cardiovascular medicine specialist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and the distinguished Hersey Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and faculty dean for academic programs at Mass General Brigham.

Dr Braunwald received his medical degree from New York University School of Medicine. He completed an internal medicine residency at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and a cardiology residency at Mount Sinai Hospital. Dr Braunwald then completed cardiology fellowships at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and the National Heart Institute. He is board certified in both internal medicine and cardiovascular disease.

Dr Braunwald is also the founding chairman of the Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) Study Group, an academic research organization of BWH and an affiliate of HMS. As chairman of  TIMI, Dr Braunwald and his colleagues have provided significant insight into the treatment of patients who suffer from acute myocardial infarction and unstable angina.

Dr Braunwald has served as an editor of Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine for 12 editions and is the founding editor of Heart Disease, now in its 10th edition, as well as two prominent cardiovascular textbooks. Science Watch listed Dr Braunwald as the most frequently cited author in cardiology.

Gene Bukhman (The Lancet NCDI Poverty Commission)

Dr Gene Bukhman is a cardiologist and medical anthropologist who directs the Center for Integration Science at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Program on Global Noncommunicable Disease (NCDs) and Social Change at Harvard Medical School. He is an Associate Professor of Medicine and an Associate Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine. He is also the Senior Health and Policy Advisor on NCDs at Partners In Health (PIH) where he directs the NCD Synergies project. Between 2010 and 2015, he was the Senior Technical Advisor on NCDs to the Rwanda Ministry of Health. Over the past 15 years, Dr Bukhman has argued that for those living in extreme poverty, NCDs are best understood as part of the “long tail” of global health equity that demands a new “science of integration.”

He has translated this critique into practical delivery strategies that are now impacting patients’ lives in more than a dozen countries. He is the author of more than 90 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters that apply a range of methodologies from ethnography and archival research to epidemiology and mathematical modelling to identify solutions to the problem of “NCDI Poverty.” Dr Bukhman was the lead-author and co-chair of the 1996-2020 Lancet Commission on Reframing NCDs and Injuries for the Poorest Billion, and is currently co-chair of the 22-country NCDI Poverty Network launched in December of 2020 to support implementation of the Lancet Commission’s recommendations.

Ana Mocumbi (The Lancet NCDI Poverty Commission)

Dr Mocumbi is an Associate Professor of Cardiology at Universidade Eduardo Mondlane in Mozambique and Affiliated Professor at the Department of Global Health at the University of Washington. She is based in Mozambique, where she is the Head of the Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) Division at the National Public Health Institute Mozambique (Instituto Nacional de Saúde). Her career focuses on poverty-related NCD, particularly neglected cardiovascular diseases. Her research interests span from clinical research to education and health management, with a special focus on neglected cardiovascular diseases, particularly cardiomyopathies and heart failure in children, as well as Women’s Cardiovascular Health and use of point-of-care technologies for improvement of access to health care in low-income settings.

She is Co-Chair of the Taskforce for Access to Reproductive Health Services for Women with Cardiovascular Disease of the Pan African Society of Cardiology, Co-Chair of the Working Group on Rheumatic Heart Disease Prevention and Control at the World Heart Federation, and Co-Chaired of The Lancet Global Commission on Non-Communicable Diseases and Injuries of the Poorest Billion.

Mended Hearts

Al Voss joined Mended Hearts® in August 2016. He is the Past-President of the Mended Hearts Southwest Georgia Chapter #165. He is also a Mended Hearts Accredited Visitor and Certified Patient Advocate. Voss serves Mended Hearts as the Business and Operations Director, Corporate Secretary, and Treasurer. He is a member of the Board of Directors, Executive Committee, Administrative Board, By-Laws Committee, Elections Committee, Awards Committee, and Nominations Committee. Voss is the Regional Director of the Midwest Region, and Assistant Regional Director for the Southern Region. Voss is a member of the Disease Experience Expert Panel (Denmark), the European Patients’ Academy on Therapeutic Innovation (Switzerland), the National Organization for Rare Disorders (Australia), the Patient Access Network Foundation (USA), and the Partnership to Advance Cardiovascular Health (USA). Voss was named “Volunteer of the Year” in 2019, an annual award presented to a volunteer member for outstanding service in support of the Mended Hearts mission on a national or regional basis.

Gabriela Lima de Melo Ghisi

Dr Gabriela Ghisi is a researcher with the KITE Research Institute, Toronto Rehab with a focus on patient education in chronic disease management. In collaboration with cardiac rehab programs around the world, she has led the successful development, implementation, and evaluation of an evidence-based patient education curriculum in 9 countries. Gabriela is also a member of the executive committee of the International Council of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation (ICCPR).