Nanette K. Wenger, MD, MACC, MACP, FAHA

2023 Alma Dea Morani Awardee

Dr. Wenger is Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology at the Emory University School of Medicine. She is a Consultant to the Emory Heart and Vascular Center, and Founding Consultant, Emory Women’s Heart Center.

Coronary heart disease in women is one of Dr. Wenger’s major clinical and research interests. She chaired the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Conference on Cardiovascular Health and Disease in Women. Dr. Wenger has expertise in cardiac rehabilitation. She chaired the World Health Organization Expert Committee on Rehabilitation after Cardiovascular Disease, and co-chaired the Guideline Panel on Cardiac Rehabilitation for the U.S. Agency for Health Care Policy and Research. Dr. Wenger has a longstanding interest in geriatric cardiology, is Past President of the Society of Geriatric Cardiology and was Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Geriatric Cardiology for over 15 years.

Dr. Wenger received the Outstanding Professional Achievement Award from Hunter College (1993), the Physician of the Year Award of the American Heart Association (1998), and the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Scientific Councils of the American Heart Association and its Women in Cardiology Mentoring Award (1999).

In 2000, Dr Wenger was presented the James D. Bruce Memorial Award of the American College of Physicians for distinguished contributions in preventive medicine (2000). In 2002 she received the Distinguished Fellow Award of the Society of Geriatric Cardiology, and was included in the National Library of Medicine Exhibition Changing the Face of Medicine: A History of American Women Physicians (2003). Dr. Wenger received the Gold Heart Award, the highest award of the American Heart Association (2004).

At the Emory University 2004 Commencement, Dr. Wenger received the Emory Williams Distinguished Teaching Award of the University and the Evangeline Papageorge Alumni Teaching Award of the School of Medicine. Dr. Wenger was selected to deliver the 2004 Laennec Lecture of the American Heart Association. In 2006, Dr. Wenger received the Hatter Award, international recognition for the advancement of cardiovascular science. The Georgia Chapter, American College of Cardiology, presented Dr. Wenger its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009. She was selected Georgia Woman of the Year for 2010. In 2011, Dr. Wenger was selected to deliver the James B. Herrick lecture by the American Heart Association for her outstanding achievement in clinical cardiology. She was elected a member of Emory’s 175 Historymakers during Emory’s first 175 years.

In 2012, Dr. Wenger received the Charles R. Hatcher, Jr., MD, Award for Excellence in Public Health from Emory University; and was honored in 2013 by establishment of the J. Willis Hurst, R. Bruce Logue, and Nanette K. Wenger Cardiovascular Society for Emory Cardiology Trainee Alumni. In 2013, she received the Inaugural Distinguished Mentor Award of the American College of Cardiology and the Arnall Patz Lifetime Achievement Award of the Emory School of Medicine Medical Alumni Association. The American Society of Preventive Cardiology honored Dr. Wenger by naming an annual Nanette K. Wenger Distinguished Lecture focusing on cardiovascular prevention in women (2014).

In 2015, she was awarded the Inaugural Bernadine Healy Leadership in Women’s CV Disease Award, American College of Cardiology. Dr. Wenger received the Spirit of the Heart Legacy Award of the Association of Black Cardiologists (2017), and was an invited lecturer for the 70th Anniversary NHLBI program in Bethesda, MD (2018). In 2019 she received the Outstanding Alumna Award from the Emory Alumni Association, and in 2020 the American Heart Association’s Eugene Braunwald Academic Mentoring Award.. In 2021, the American Heart Association established the annual Dr. Nanette K. Wenger Award for the best scientific publication in cardiovascular disease in women.. The American College of Cardiology conferred its Lifetime Achievement Award on Dr. Wenger in 2022. She also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the World Heart Federation.

Dr. Wenger has participated as author of several American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Clinical Practice Guidelines. She is past Chair, Board of Directors, Society for Women’s Health Research. Dr. Wenger serves on editorial boards of numerous professional journals and is a sought after lecturer for issues related to heart disease in women, heart disease in the elderly, cardiac rehabilitation, coronary prevention, and contemporary cardiac care. She is listed in Best Doctors in America.

Dr. Wenger has authored or coauthored over 1700 scientific and review articles and book chapters.