It is our great honor to announce the 2024 Dr. Carolyn McCue Award for Woman Cardiologist of the Year to Anne B. Curtis, MD. Dr. Curtis is both a clinician and researcher, serving as SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Medicine at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo in Buffalo, New York. Her specialty is clinical cardiac electrophysiology, the field of cardiology that studies, and diagnoses and treats disorders of, the electrical activity of the heart muscle.

Established in 2008 and funded by a grant from the McCue family, the McCue Award honors the late Carolyn Moore McCue, MD. Dr. McCue was one of the few female cardiologists of her time and served as the first woman elected president of the Richmond Academy of Medicine. During her 42 years of medical practice at the Medical College of Virginia (MCV, now VCU Health), she also created and chaired MCV’s Pediatric Cardiology Division and played a vital role in establishing pediatric cardiology clinics in medically underserved communities throughout Virginia.

Dr. Carolyn McCue listens to a patient’s heart

“I am incredibly honored to receive the 2024 Dr. Carolyn McCue Award for Woman Cardiologist of the Year,” Dr. Curtis said. “Dr. McCue was a highly accomplished pediatric cardiologist and a pioneering role model for women in the field. This award reminds us not only of her accomplishments, but also of the importance of continuing to encourage women to pursue careers in cardiovascular disease.”

Dr. Curtis will be presented with the Dr. Carolyn McCue Award for Woman Cardiologist of the Year at the Pauley Heart Center Heart Health in Women Symposium, held at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture in Richmond, Virginia on Saturday, February 3, 2024. Dr. Curtis will also serve as keynote speaker at the conference. For more information about the 2024 Heart Health in Women Symposium, please contact Shannon Winston at shannon.winston@vcuhealth.org.

“The Dr. Carolyn McCue Award recognizes women cardiologists who not only go above and beyond in their care for patients, but who also make essential contributions to the field of cardiology through teaching, mentoring, and research,” said Dr. Greg Hundley, director of the Pauley Heart Center. “According to the cardiologists and colleagues who nominated her—of whom there were many—Dr. Curtis is a standout in all of these roles. Her countless hours of service and leadership in the field of clinical cardiac electrophysiology make Dr. Curtis exactly the kind of person and provider the Pauley Heart Center hopes to recognize with the McCue Award.”

Dr. Anne B. Curtis

Dr. Anne B. Curtis is SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Medicine in the Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo in Buffalo, New York. She received a BA in chemistry from Rutgers University in New Jersey, and her MD from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, New York. She completed her residency in internal medicine at the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, also in New York, and fellowships in cardiovascular disease and clinical cardiac electrophysiology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina.

Curtis currently serves as president of the Association of Professors of Medicine, an organization that represents the leadership of departments of internal medicine across the United States and Canada. Dr. Curtis is past president of the Heart Rhythm Society and a recipient of their Distinguished Service Award and their President’s Award. She is also past president of the Cardiac Electrophysiology Society and the Association of University Cardiologists. She is on the editorial boards of many of the key academic journals in the fields of cardiology and electrophysiology, and also serves as an associate editor of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Her research interests include clinical trials in implantable device therapy, including defibrillators and cardiac resynchronization therapy; sex and racial disparities in the management of patients with arrhythmias; and clinical research in atrial fibrillation. In addition to holding leadership positions on steering committees, executive committees, and data and safety monitoring boards for multicenter clinical trials, Dr. Curtis was the national principal investigator on a study of heart failure patients with atrioventricular block (entitled Block HF). She has been on the writing committees for national and international guidelines and consensus statements on atrial fibrillation, sudden cardiac death, ablation for atrial fibrillation, sex differences in cardiac arrhythmias, and cardiac physiological pacing. Dr. Curtis has over 350 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, and reviews.