Charles Hennekens, M.D.
US National Coordinator, International Studies of Infarct Survival
Charles H. Hennekens received his B.S. from Queens College Phi Beta Kappa, his M.D. from Cornell University Medical College and completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. He served two years as Lieutenant Commander in the USPHS as EIS Medical Epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control assigned to the Dade County Department of Public Health, Miami, FL. He has an M.P.H., M.S. and Dr. P.H. from the Harvard School of Public Health, and Doctor of Science degrees, honoris causa, from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and Queens College and an honorary fellowship in the American College of Cardiology (FACC) for distinguished contributions to cardiovascular medicine. Dr. Hennekens’ interests include research and teaching the epidemiology, prevention and treatment of chronic diseases, in particular, cardiovascular disease and cancer, as well as infectious diseases. He was Principal (PI) or Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI) for numerous landmark studies. From their inception, he was PI of the cardiovascular component of the Nurses’ Health Study for 22 years, PI of the Physician’s Health Study for 17 years, U.S. PI for the International Studies of Infarct Survival for 12 years, PI of the Data Coordinating Center for the Trials of Hypertension Prevention for 10 years, PI of the Women’s Health Study for 7 years, Co-PI for the Women’s Antioxidant Cardiovascular Study for 6 years and the Vanguard Center for the Women’s Health Initiative for 5 years, and the PI of Physician’s Health Study II for 3 years. He pioneered the collection and storage of large numbers of blood specimens to test genetic and epidemiological hypotheses, including the predictive value of C-reactive protein for subsequent cardiovascular disease for which he is listed as co-inventor on patents held by the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He has elucidated numerous causal, preventive, and therapeutic factors, most notably low-dose aspirin in the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular disease.
Dr. Hennekens is the first Sir Richard Doll Research Professor, Charles E. Schmidt College of Biomedical Science & Center of Excellence at Florida Atlantic University as well as Voluntary Professor of Medicine & Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and Clinical Professor of Preventive Medicine at NOVA Southeastern University. He is also Visiting Fellow at Green College at the University of Oxford. He was the first John Snow Professor of Medicine and first Eugene Braunwald Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the first Chief of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
He is past president of the American Epidemiological Society, past president of the Society for Epidemiologic Research, as well as member of the Association of American Physicians. Dr. Hennekens has been Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and founding Editor-in-Chief of the Annals of Epidemiology. He has been a member of the Board of Overseers of the American Journal of Epidemiology as well as the editorial board of Circulation, Hypertension and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Dr. Hennekens is co-author of 785 publications, including 577 original reports, 205 reviews and book chapters, and 3 textbooks, namely Epidemiology in Medicine, which is used widely in teaching epidemiology and public health at medical schools as well as schools of public health in the United States and abroad, Prevention of Myocardial Infarction and Clinical Trials in Cardiovascular Disease: A Companion Text To Braunwald’s Heart Disease. He is a diplomate of the National Board of Medical Examiner’s and the American Board Preventive Medicine and a Fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine, as well as the American College of Epidemiology. He is the recipient of the Bruce Award from the American College of Physician’s for distinguished contributions to preventive medicine, the VERIS Award for outstanding contributions to antioxidant vitamin research, the Lillienfeld Award from the American College of Epidemiology for excellence in the field of epidemiology, the first Robert S. Gordon Lectureship from the National Institutes of Health for significant contributions to epidemiology and clinical trials, the Duncan Clark Award from the American Teachers of Preventive Medicine for excellence in teaching in epidemiology and preventive medicine, the American College of Nutrition Award for outstanding contributions to nutrition research, the Lewis Atterbury Conner Lectureship Award from the American Heart Association, the Jan J. Kellermann Memorial Award for distinguished contributions to cardiovascular disease prevention from the International Society of Heart Failure, the American Association for Clinical Chemistry Lectureship Award for distinguished contributions, the Senior International Aspirin Award from Bayer AG and the First Public Health Physician of the Year Award from the Association of Public Health Physicians for distinguished contributions to teaching and research in public health.
