NHLBI Celebrates Women Scientists

In honor of Women’s History Month, the NHLBI will celebrate the accomplishments of women biomedical scientists who have played and are playing key roles in fighting heart, lung, blood, and sleep-related disorders. Check back throughout the month for additions to this impressive list.
headshot of nina braunwald
Cardiac surgery seemed like the next big frontier to the late Nina Starr Braunwald, M.D., who would later become the first woman to become a cardiac surgeon...
headshot of Julie Panepinto
For nearly 20 years, Julie Panepinto, M.D., MSPH, has been involved in chronic disease research and caring for children with sickle cell disease, a painful...
headshot of Dr. Karola Jering
When the United States implemented nationwide "stay-at-home" orders last year amid a worsening pandemic, so did research laboratories around the world. Projects...
Professional headshot of Dr. Gail Pearson
As a pediatric cardiologist, Gail Pearson, M.D., Sc.D., faces heart disease where most people least expect to find it—in the very young and most vulnerable. As...
Headshot of Qing “Sara” Lin, Ph.D.
When Sara Lin, Ph.D., was a doctoral student studying developmental biology, she shadowed doctors in a neonatal intensive care unit and quickly became...
Headshot of Dina Paltoo, Ph.D., M.P.H.
When Dina Paltoo, Ph.D., M.P.H., joined the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in March 2020, she was eager to use her years of extensive...
Headshot of Dr. Judith S. Hochman
Credit: NYU Langone
As a cardiologist, Judith Hochman, M.D., M.A., could see first-hand the havoc COVID-19 was wreaking among patients with cardiovascular disease. Very early on...
Photo of Dr. Pina wearing a lab coat and stethoscope
Ileana Piña, M.D., a Board-certified heart failure transplant cardiologist, is a clinical p rofessor of medicine at Central Michigan University and adjunct...
Headshot of Amanda Jamieson, Ph.D.
When she was just 7, Amanda Jamieson, Ph.D., loved peering at pond water samples under a microscope. Over the years, her fascination with living systems only...
Headshot of Kathleen Fenton, M.D.
For nearly 20 years Kathleen Fenton, M.D., a pioneering pediatric cardiac surgeon, taught students and medical residents, ran a research laboratory, and worked...