The American Heart Association’s Paul Dudley White Award Nominee Announced

This year's recipient is Dr. Gary Balady, a cardiologist at Boston Medical Center.

This year’s honoree for the prestigious Paul Dudley White Award, which is named after one of Boston’s most revered cardiologists, Dr. Paul Dudley White, the founding father of the American Heart Association, is Dr. Gary Balady, director of preventive cardiology at Boston Medical Center.

According to the American Heart Association, Dr. White founded the Cardiac Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1916, which was the first unit of its kind in the U.S., and 90 years ago, in 1924, he established the American Heart Association. In addition, his name also graces the 17-mile bike path (the Dr. Paul Dudley White Bike path) located in Boston and Brookline. 

More fun facts: Dr. Larry Cohn, a Boston cardiologist and past recipient of the Paul Dudley White Award, has Dr. White’s original examination chair in his library at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

On May 3rd, Balady will be honored at the American Heart Association’s annual Boston Heart Ball. “Dr. Balady has made significant contributions to the American Heart Association and the field of cardiology,” said event co-chair, Dr. Lawrence H. Cohn, Hubbard Professor Emeritus of Cardiac Surgery at Harvard Medical School and a cardiac surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “We are pleased to be able to recognize his achievements with this year’s Paul Dudley White Award.”

In 1985, Balady established the Cardiac Rehabilitation and Prevention Program at Boston Medical Center, which has since served nearly 4,000 patients. His research interests focus on exercise testing and training of cardiac patients, with a particular emphasis on the physiologic changes that occur in the cardiovascular system with regular exercise, as well as assessing the outcomes after cardiac rehabilitation.

Balady has served the American Heart Association for 20 years in various capacities and currently is an associate editor of the American Heart Association’s flagship journal, Circulation.

This year’s Heart Ball aims to raise $1 million to help fight heart disease and stroke. For more information, visit: bostonheartball.ahaevents.org.