We are thrilled to announce that the 2025 Dr. Carolyn McCue Award for Woman Cardiologist of the Year has been awarded to Michelle A. Albert, MD, MPH. A physician, scientist, and epidemiologist, Dr. Albert is the Walter A. Haas-Lucie Stern Endowed Chair in Cardiology and Professor in Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), as well as director of the CeNter for the StUdy of AdveRsiTy and CardiovascUlaR DiseasE (NURTURE Center) at UCSF and admissions dean for the UCSF School of Medicine. Clinically, she specializes in both advanced heart disease and preventive cardiology, while her research focuses on “the biology of adversity” and developing implementation strategies to curb adversity-related cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk among populations that experience poor social determinants of health and cumulative toxic stress.

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. 

“I am so honored and humbled to be the recipient of the 2025 Dr. Carolyn McCue Award for Woman Cardiologist of the Year,” Dr. Albert said. “Dr. McCue was not only a trailblazer in our field – she has also had a longstanding commitment to improving access to cardiovascular care for vulnerable populations. For all these reasons and much more, it is tremendously special to be considered among the ranks of Dr. McCue and the previous awardees. I am very much looking forward to my visit to Richmond for the 10th annual Heart Health in Women Symposium!”

Dr. Albert will be presented with the McCue Award at the Pauley Heart Center’s tenth annual Heart Health in Women Symposium, held at the Science Museum of Virginia on February 8, 2025. Dr. Albert will also serve as keynote speaker at the conference. The Heart Health in Women Conference was created by the Pauley Heart Center in 2015 to provide healthcare practitioners in central Virginia (and beyond) with a comprehensive understanding of the unique presentations, treatments, and outcomes of heart disease in women. The ultimate goal of the conference is to improve cardiac care for all women in Virginia.

“Dr. Albert is not only a national and international leader in the world of cardiology,” said Pauley Heart Center Director Greg Hundley, MD, “the work of her career also exemplifies the mission we hold dear here at Pauley: to improve cardiovascular care for all – including and especially those patients and populations who are most vulnerable to heart disease. I am thrilled that we will be able to honor and host Dr. Albert and her contributions to the field at the tenth anniversary of our Heart Health in Women Symposium.”

About Michelle A. Albert, MD, MPH

Dr. Michelle A. Albert, MD, MPH is the Walter A. Haas-Lucie Stern Endowed Chair in Cardiology and Professor in Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), admissions dean at the UCSF School of Medicine, and director of the CeNter for the StUdy of AdveRsiTy and CardiovascUlaR DiseasE (NURTURE Center). Dr. Albert is a graduate of Haverford College, the University of Rochester School of Medicine, and Harvard School of Public Health. She completed internal medicine residency and served as chief medical resident at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. Dr. Albert then completed cardiovascular clinical and research fellowship at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, where she rose in the ranks to an Associate Professor in Medicine. She was previously the Vivian Beaumont Allen Endowed Professor/Chair and Chief of Cardiology at Howard University.

Dr. Albert’s clinical expertise involves both taking care of the most critically ill heart disease patients and preventive cardiology at UCSF. As a physician-scientist-epidemiologist, Dr. Albert has had a longstanding commitment to health equity and is engaged in cutting-edge research that innovatively seeks to incorporate “biology” with social determinants of health to transform CVD science and healthcare of global populations, i.e “the biology of adversity”. Her research has followed a bold, non-traditional path for cardiovascular disease research. A central component of her current work focuses on developing innovative implementation strategies to curb adversity-related CVD risk, particularly in women and diverse racial and ethnic populations with a focus on cumulative toxic stress. She is recipient of sustained research funding as principal investigator including from the NIH, AHA and multiple foundations. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the 2024 Distinguished Scientist Award from the American College of Cardiology and is one of two recipients nationally of the prestigious 2018 AHA Merit award for visionary research and is the first woman and under-represented person in medicine to receive this award.

Dr. Albert is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), the Association of University Cardiologists (AUC), the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI) and the Association of American Physicians (AAP).

She is the 86th Past President of the American Heart Association (AHA: 2022-2023), 18th Past President of the Association of Black Cardiologists, Inc (ABC: 2020-2022), the 60th Past President of the Association of University Cardiologists (AUC: 2021-2022). She is the first person in history to serve collectively and concurrently as President of these three of the most prestigious cardiovascular societies. Dr. Albert is the first woman of color and Black woman to serve as AHA President and AUC President.

Albert currently serves/ed as a member of the federal Advisory Committee to the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (ACD), NHLBI Board of External Experts (BEE), 2019 ACC/AHA Cardiovascular Prevention Guidelines committee and as a standing committee member of NIH study section - Mechanisms, Emotion, Sleep & Health (MESH).

Dr. Albert enjoys mentoring trainees at all levels across the United States. She was a nominee/finalist for the competitive 2011-2012 Excellence in Mentoring Award at Harvard Medical School and the recipient of the Women in Cardiology Mentoring Award from the AHA (2016). Dr. Albert received an Honorary Doctorate in Science (DSc, Hon) from the University of Rochester in 2023. She has been named to Forbes 50 over 50 List for her Impact.

About the VCU Health Pauley Heart Center

Founded more than 20 years ago, the Pauley Heart Center is today the top heart hospital in Virginia and one of the top 50 heart hospitals in the country. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death nationwide and in Virginia, and despite advances in prevention and treatment in recent decades, disproportionately affects individuals with poor social determinants of health. Pauley’s mission is to improve cardiovascular care and reduce health disparities for all through research, community engagement, education, and clinical care that is the best in the Commonwealth. Pauley clinicians and researchers have pioneered many of the treatments and devices that are now cardiovascular standards of care across the world. Headquartered at VCU Health in Richmond with outpatient centers throughout central and southeast Virginia, Pauley provides clinical services and community education and outreach programs throughout the region.