Elizabeth G. Nabel, M.D. is the former Director of the US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at the US National Institutes of Health

National Institutes of Health

The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...

 (NIH). Nabel is currently President of Brigham and Women's Hospital

Brigham and Women's Hospital

Brigham and Women's Hospital is the largest hospital of the Longwood Medical and Academic Area in Boston, Massachusetts. It is directly adjacent to Harvard Medical School of which it is the second largest teaching affiliate with 793 beds...

, and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School

Harvard Medical School

Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....

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Education and career

Nabel, a native of St. Paul, Minnesota, graduated from St. Olaf College in 1974 and received her M.D.

Doctor of Medicine

Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...

 degree from Cornell University Medical College in 1981. Subsequently, she completed an internship and residency in internal medicine followed by a clinical and research fellowship in cardiovascular medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard University. In 1987, she joined the faculty at the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 as an Assistant Professor of Medicine and rose through the ranks, becoming Director of the Cardiovascular Research Center in 1992, Professor of Medicine and Physiology in 1994, and Chief of the Division of Cardiology in 1997. While at the University of Michigan, she became known for her research in the fields of vascular biology and molecular cardiology and for her gene transfer studies of the cardiovascular system.

Nabel joined the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in 1999 as the Institute’s Scientific Director of Clinical Research. In 2005, Nabel became Director of the NHLBI, where she oversaw an extensive national research portfolio of basic and clinical research to prevent, diagnose, and treat heart, lung, and blood diseases. She served in this position until November 30, 2009.

Medical and Research Achievements

Nabel has made many contributions to basic and clinical research on the pathogenesis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. She has long championed the concept “from bench to bedside” which is reflected in her work that intertwines basic research and translation to clinical medicine. Early in her career, she made seminal discoveries regarding genetic therapies for cardiovascular disease, having developed methods for the introduction and expression of recombinant genes into blood vessels. These basic studies were instrumental in designing device therapies, in combination with genes or drugs, to treat the vascular disease restenosis. In addition, Nabel has delineated the mechanisms by which cell cycle

Cell cycle

The cell cycle, or cell-division cycle, is the series of events that takes place in a cell leading to its division and duplication . In cells without a nucleus , the cell cycle occurs via a process termed binary fission...

 and growth factor proteins regulate the proliferation of vascular

Vascular

Vascular in zoology and medicine means "related to blood vessels", which are part of the circulatory system. An organ or tissue that is vascularized is heavily endowed with blood vessels and thus richly supplied with blood....

 cells in blood vessels, a process important for the development of atherosclerosis and restenosis. Her vascular biology laboratory has characterized the role of cell cycle inhibitors on vascular proliferation and inflammation, and this research has opened up new avenues for therapeutic targets in the vasculature. Nabel’s current research focuses on the molecular genetics of vascular diseases. She is conducting clinical studies to understand the contribution of genetic factors to proliferative and inflammatory diseases in blood vessels, including common diseases like atherosclerosis and the rare, premature aging in Hutchinson Gilford Progeria Syndrome

Progeria

Progeria is an extremely rare genetic condition wherein symptoms resembling aspects of aging are manifested at an early age. The word progeria comes from the Greek words "pro" , meaning "before", and "géras" , meaning "old age"...

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. She has contributed both to policy and basic research on embryonic stem cells 

Memberships and Awards

Nabel has served as a Visiting Professor at major medical centers throughout the country. She has delivered major lectureships in Europe and Australia. Nabel has received numerous awards for her scientific accomplishments, including the Willem Einthoven Award from Leiden University in the Netherlands, the Amgen-Scientific Achievement Award from the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Distinguished Achievement Awards from both the Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Council and the Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology Council of the American Heart Association. In 2001, she received an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.

Nabel is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Society for Clinical Investigation

American Society for Clinical Investigation

The American Society for Clinical Investigation, or ASCI, established in 1908, is one of the nation's oldest and most respected medical honor societies.-Organization and Purpose:...

, and the Association of American Physicians, as well as a Fellow of the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology.