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.
Professional Headshot of Dr. MeiLan Han.
MeiLan Han has spent years trying to understand why some people develop and progress more rapidly from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, compared...
Photo of Dr. Beth Kozel in lab setting, arms crossed and smiling at camera
Beth Kozel always wanted to be a doctor. She also loved scientific research, and when she realized that she could combine her two passions into a career as a...
Professional Headshot of Dr. Alka Kanaya.
It is no mystery why Alka Kanaya, M.D., decided to point her research lens in the direction she did nearly a decade ago. Born in Mumbai and raised in California...
Professional Headshot of Dr. Karin Hoffmeister
Karin Hoffmeister is working hard to bring the field of glycoscience into mainstream research and clinical practice . The specialty field focuses on uncovering...
Dr. Marlene Rabinovitch, smiling at the camera
For more than a decade, Marlene Rabinovitch has been working to unlock the secrets of a rare condition called pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). A severe...
Professional Headshot of Dr. Dayna Johnson
Dayna Johnson wants us all to sleep better, and part of her public health approach is to help figure out how to eliminate health disparities associated with...
Headshot of Dr. Amanda Fretts, smiling, outdoors
Amanda Mae Fretts, Ph.D., M.P.H., has seen lots of change in the lives of American Indians over the years—and not all of it has been good. “Nearly 70 years ago...
Picture of Dr. Harbison at her lab looking at test tubes
Dr. Harbison is an Earl Stadtman Investigator in the Laboratory of Systems Genetics in the Division of Intramural Research at NHLBI. She has made important...
Headshot of Dr. Betty Pace
Dr. Pace, a sickle cell disease researcher, is the Interim Chief of the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Division, Francis J. Tedesco Distinguished Chair, and...
Headshot of Dr. Lisa Henske
Dr. Henske is renowned for her discovery that mutations in the TSC2 gene cause the sporadic form of lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), a rare lung disease of women...
Headshot of Dr. Yun Ju Sung
Dr. Sung is an Associate Professor of Biostatistics at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Her experience is in the fields of statistics...
Headshot of Dr. Elizabeth Murphy
Dr. Murphy works to protect the heart, where interruption of the blood supply can result in cardiac cell death and irreversible muscle damage. Since 2006, she...