The American Heart Association today presented its Research Achievement Award for 2014 to Shaun R. Coughlin, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of California, San Francisco, “for transcendent discoveries of cellular signaling mechanisms that control blood platelet activation and clot formation, findings that have led to a new medical therapy for preventing heart attacks and strokes.”

The American Heart Association awarded its 2014 Population Research Prize to Vasan R. Ramachandran, M.D., of Boston University School of Medicine, “for brilliantly seizing upon opportunities to translate cutting-edge bench science into an epidemiological context, thereby making fundamental contributions to identifying systemic markers for cardiovascular risk, both here and in developing countries.”

The American Heart Association’s Council on Clinical Cardiology presented its highest honor, the James B. Herrick Award for Outstanding Achievement in Clinical Cardiology, to Kanu Chatterjee, M.B., of the University of Iowa, “in grateful recognition of his distinguished and productive career benefitting physicians and their patients worldwide.”

Communication among patients, providers and caregivers about risks for stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation needs an assist. Research presented Nov. 17 at the American Heart Association scientific sessions in Chicago found that when polled, few atrial fibrillation patients understood their stroke risks and some physicians missed opportunities to educate them.

Critical screening for newborns in New Jersey bears fruit: 13 more babies were identified with critical congenital heart defects than had been previously identified through prenatal screening or physical exam. Secondarily, babies with other kinds of congenital heart defects and serious medical conditions were identified solely through the mandatory pulse oximetry program.

The success of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has inspired physicians to apply less invasive percutaneous techniques to other valvular conditions.

Start with cardiology, a specialty that has been at the forefront of positive change. Then add experience, an entrepreneurial spirit and vision.

According to findings presented Nov. 16 at the American Heart Association scientific session in Chicago, endothelial function was just as impaired in rats exposed to second-hand smoke from marijuana as cigarettes.