Rosamond honored by American Heart Association for cardiovascular research mentorship
March 14, 2023
Dr. Wayne Rosamond receives the 2023 American Heart Association’s EPI Mentoring Award.
Wayne D. Rosamond, PhD, professor of epidemiology at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, has been named the 2023 recipient of the American Heart Association’s (AHA) EPI Mentoring Award. The award highlights the importance of superior mentoring in cardiovascular epidemiologic research by honoring a person who has provided exceptional individual and institutional mentoring and advocacy for cardiovascular epidemiology researchers.
Rosamond was presented with the award during the EPI|Lifestyle Scientific Sessions 2023, which were held in Boston, Massachusetts on Feb. 28 – March 3.
The 2023 American Heart Association’s EPI Mentoring Award.
“Wayne embodies the collegial and supportive culture that thrives at UNC like nowhere else,” said Anna Johnson, PhD, MPH, researcher in the Department of Epidemiology and a mentee of Rosamond’s.
Rosamond is an investigator and teacher in cardiovascular epidemiology with research expertise in design, conduct and analysis of community-based surveillance studies and registries of coronary heart disease, heart failure and stroke. He has also published on the etiology of myocardial infarction, heart failure, sudden cardiac death, venous thromboembolism and stroke.
He has chaired several national committees of the AHA, including the Statistics Committee, Executive Database Steering Committee and the 2020 Mission Metrics Committee and has served as president of the board of directors of the AHA Mid Atlantic Affiliate.
“My favorite part of my professional life is mentoring and working with students,” Rosamond said. “I get to participate in the creation of their ideas and career paths, see their enthusiasm as they discovery of a passion for research and contribute to their growth as people and scholars.”
Several of the doctoral students – now Gillings graduates – that Rosamond mentored were present with him at the sessions, including Randi Foraker, PhD, MA, FAHA, FAMIA and Corey Kalbaugh, PhD, MS, MA, who nominated him for the award.
Drs. Randi Foraker, Corey Kalbaugh and Wayne Rosamond
“I have fond memories of our ‘breakfast club’ meetings on Friday mornings,” Foraker wrote in her nomination. “Dr. Rosamond convened around 10 of us on Fridays over coffee and pastries to ask questions, seek advice and share our experiences as trainees. As a faculty member at Washington University in St. Louis’ School of Medicine since 2017 and prior to that at The Ohio State University’s College of Public Health since 2010, I constantly seek to emulate Dr. Rosamond’s mentorship style to maintain a positive trainee community and culture.”
“From Wayne, I learned how to review a manuscript, how to refine scientific ideas and how to advocate for others,” Kalbaugh wrote. “He is a model of availability, commitment to others’ success and kindness. Is there a higher compliment in academia than to say someone is kind and generous? These are always the first things that come to mind when I reflect on my time with Wayne.”
In 2015, the AHA also honored late Distinguished Professor Gerardo Heiss, PhD, with the EPI Mentoring Award. The Gillings School community is proud that Rosamond is continuing the legacy of supporting students to reach their full potential in their public health careers.
Contact the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health communications team at sphcomm@unc.edu.
