Dr. JoAnn Manson, Champion of Women’s Health, to Receive Alma Dea Morani Renaissance Woman Award

The Women in Medicine Legacy Foundation to honor Dr. Manson on October 27

JoAnn E. Manson, MD, DrPH, MACP, whose pioneering research has contributed to the understanding of the causes of chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer, is the 2022 recipient of the Alma Dea Morani Renaissance Woman Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Women in Medicine Legacy Foundation.

A tireless champion of women’s health research, Dr. Manson has been a leading researcher in the two largest women's health research projects ever launched in the United States— the Harvard Nurses' Health Study and the Women's Health Initiative, as well as a leader of major randomized clinical trials such as the VITamin D and OmegA-3 TriaL (VITAL) and COSMOS.

Dr Manson will speak on “A Life-Course Approach for Improving Women’s Cardiovascular Health.”

“Dr. Manson has led a career in medicine that has undoubtedly made the world a better place for not only women but all people,” says Danielle Laraque-Arena, MD, president of the Foundation. “Her breakthrough research in the areas of chronic diseases has helped people live better, longer lives, and her leadership as a woman in medicine has paved the way for generations to come.”

The Alma Dea Morani Award recognizes an outstanding contemporary pioneer in medicine or science who has demonstrated professional excellence and a thirst for knowledge and service beyond her medical practice or scientific endeavors. Dr. Manson will receive the 23rd award.

She will accept her award at a virtual event hosted by the New York Academy of Medicine on October 27, 2022 at 4:00-5:15 pm ET.

At the event, Dr. Manson will discuss understanding life-course changes in cardiometabolic risk in women, including factors related to infancy/childhood, pregnancy outcomes, and the menopause transition; identifying windows of opportunity for prevention of cardiovascular disease in women, tailored to life stage; and how life-course considerations may inform the development of novel therapeutics to reduce cardiovascular risk in women.

If you would like to recognize Dr. Manson, you can make a gift in her honor to The Foundation. Dr. Manson will receive notification of all those who have donated. Or, if you would like to sponsor the event, please see our sponsorship options.

Dr. Manson’s Biography

Dr. Manson is a Professor of Medicine and the Michael and Lee Bell Professor of Women’s Health at Harvard Medical School, Professor in the Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Chief of the Division of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), and Scientific Advisor to the BWH Connors Center for Women’s Health and Sex/Gender Medicine.

Dr. Manson is a physician epidemiologist, endocrinologist, and Principal Investigator (PI) or co-PI of several research studies, including the Women’s Health Initiative Clinical Center In Boston, the cardiovascular component of the Nurses’ Health Study, the VITamin D and OmegA-3 TriaL (VITAL); the COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study (COSMOS), and the Vitamin D for COVID-19 (VIVID) trial. Her primary research interests include randomized clinical prevention trials of nutritional and lifestyle factors related to heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, the role of endogenous and exogenous estrogens as determinants of chronic disease, life course-related risk factors for CVD in women, and biomarker predictors of CVD. 

Dr. Manson has received numerous honors, including the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Population Research Prize, the AHA’s Distinguished Scientist Award, the AHA’s Research Achievement Award, election to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies (National Academy of Medicine), membership in the Association of American Physicians (AAP), fellowship in AAAS, the Woman in Science Award from the American Medical Women’s Association, the Bernadine Healy Award for Visionary Leadership in Women’s Health, the Massachusetts Medical Society awards in both Public Health and Women’s Health Research, the James D. Bruce Memorial Award for Distinguished Contributions in Preventive Medicine from the American College of Physicians (ACP), and election to mastership in ACP. 

Dr. Manson has published more than 1,200 peer-reviewed articles in the medical literature, is the author or editor of several books and textbooks, serves as Editor-in-Chief of Contemporary Clinical Trials, and is a past president of the North American Menopause Society. She is one of the most highly cited researchers in the world and was one of the physicians featured in the National Library of Medicine’s exhibition, History of American Women Physicians.