Canadian Prize in Cardiovascular Research
Awarded to Dr. James Willerson
HOUSTON—(Jan. 26, 2006)—James T. Willerson, M.D., president of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and president-elect of the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, has been named the 2006 recipient of the annual Libin/Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research Prize in Cardiovascular Research.
The prestigious scientific award recognizes Willerson as an outstanding international researcher whose work is judged to have had a major impact on the understanding, prevention, recognition or treatment of cardiovascular disease and/or the understanding and promotion of cardiovascular health.
As recipient of the Libin/AHFMR Prize, Willerson will spend a week in May lecturing and interacting with faculty members, graduate students, postdocs and fellows at both the University of Alberta in Edmonton and the University of Calgary.
Willerson is leading one of the first FDA-approved trials using bone marrow-derived stem cells to treat heart disease at the Texas Heart Institute.
Last April, the American Heart Association (AHA) presented Willerson with the “Gold Heart Award,” its highest honor for volunteers who have provided continued, distinguished service. The AHA also has honored Willerson with its Award of Meritorious Achievement, the James B. Herrick Award, and its Distinguished Science Award, which recognized his “extraordinary contributions to cardiovascular and stroke research.”
For 11 years, Willerson was editor-in-chief of Circulation, the AHA’s largest scientific journal.
Willerson received the Career Achievement Award of the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutic Scientific Symposium in Oct. 2005, which honored his history of outstanding work as an internationally distinguished cardiologist, research scientist and educator.
The AHFMR and friends of Dr. Alvin Libin established the annual award, which first was given to Eugene Braunwald, M.D., the distinguished Hersey Professor of Medicine at Harvard University.
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