Cedars-Sinai Heart Scientists Earn Top National Honors

Newswise — LOS ANGELES (Nov. 6, 2025) — The American Heart Association has selected Cedars-Sinai heart scientists to receive notable honors.

Eduardo Marbán, MD, PhD, executive director of the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai, will give the George E. Brown Memorial Lecture at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2025 in November in New Orleans. The Association created this lecture in 1935 to honor the memory of clinician and researcher George E. Brown, MD, and every year selects a distinguished scientist to share advances in cardiovascular science. Marbán will present “Discovery Arc From Cell Therapy to Novel Noncoding RNA Drugs.” Marbán’s laboratory was the first to isolate and culture human heart cells capable of repairing damaged tissue.

Also at Scientific Sessions, Jennifer Van Eyk, PhD, director of Basic Science Research in the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center, will be honored with the 2025 Council on Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Distinguished Achievement Award.

Van Eyk, the Erika J. Glazer Chair in Women’s Heart Health, is an international expert in clinical proteomics, the study of proteins in the body and how diseases affect those proteins. Her work has shown that proteins surpass genes as a source of real-time insights on what’s happening—and what is going to happen—inside the body. Much of her research focuses on how heart disease affects men and women differently at the molecular level.

“It is a privilege to see Dr. Van Eyk honored by the Association for nearly three decades of work in cardiovascular research,” said Marbán, the Mark Siegel Family Foundation Distinguished Chair. “This recognition reflects her profound impact on science and patient care, and we commend her for her commitment to excellence as she continues to pioneer earlier detection for conditions such as cardiovascular disease.”

Among Van Eyk’s most recent efforts is the development of remote blood sampling, which allows people to mail in samples for analysis and leads to faster, more personalized health assessments.

“This award highlights the incredible progress we’ve made in using proteomics to understand heart disease,” said Van Eyk, director of the Advanced Clinical Biosystems Research Institute and professor of Cardiology, Biomedical Sciences and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. “By studying proteins, we’re moving closer to detecting conditions like heart failure before symptoms appear. Our goal is to make early diagnosis as simple as mailing in a blood sample.”

Ananth Karumanchi, MD, professor of Medicine and director of the Renovascular Research Center, is the recipient of the Association’s 2025 Excellence Award for Hypertension Research—one of the highest honors in the field. Karumanchi, the Medallion Chair in Vascular Biology, received the Excellence Award for Hypertension Research at the American Heart Association Hypertension Scientific Sessions in September in Baltimore. The award honors scientists whose work has significantly advanced understanding and treatment of high blood pressure and related conditions.

Karumanchi’s work focuses on hypertension during pregnancy. His particular focus is preeclampsia, a serious blood pressure condition that can be fatal and increases a woman’s risk of heart disease, heart failure and stroke later in life. He is currently leading an international team studying how the placenta impacts heart health in mothers and infants. The project builds on Karumanchi’s earlier work, which pinpointed a protein in the blood that could help doctors detect preeclampsia earlier.

“I’m honored to have received this award from the American Heart Association,” Karumanchi said. “It underscores the dedication of our team as we work to better understand and treat hypertension and preeclampsia and improve cardiovascular health for mothers and babies.”

Jiun-Ruey Hu, MD, MPH, a fellow in interventional and structural cardiology in the Department of Cardiology, has also been selected as an Association award recipient. He will be recognized at this year’s Scientific Sessions as the winner of the 2025 Kidney in Cardiovascular Disease Educational Tools Contest.

Hu mentored a medical student (Sara Pollanen) in creating a digital tool to help clinicians treat patients with cardiorenal syndrome, a complex condition involving the heart and kidneys. Hu previously won the award from the Association in 2022 while completing his first fellowship at the Yale School of Medicine.

“The Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University congratulates our faculty members on their well-deserved recognition from the American Heart Association,” said Shlomo Melmed, MB, ChB, executive vice president of Medicine and Health Sciences and dean of the Medical Faculty. “Their prestigious honor awards and novel discovery presentations reflect the finest in cardiovascular science and clinical care.” 

The 2025 Scientific Sessions meeting is chaired by Joanna Chikwe, MD, the Irina and George Schaeffer Distinguished Chair in Cardiac Surgery in the Smidt Heart Institute.

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