Nanette Wenger Lectureship

History of the Nanette Wenger Lectureship:

When Nanette K. Wenger, MD, professor of medicine in the division of cardiology at Emory University School of Medicine began her career, heart disease was something doctors thought only affected men. Today, the American Society for Preventive Cardiology honors her significant contributions as a champion for women’s heart health with a lectureship in her name. “Dr. Wenger is an icon in many aspects of cardiology, but perhaps her greatest achievement involves her commitment to exposing the previously unrecognized toll cardiovascular disease takes on women,” says Seth J. Baum, MD, immediate past president of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology. “It is safe to say that without Dr. Wenger’s tireless efforts; women’s cardiovascular care would not have advanced to where it is today. We all owe her a tremendous debt of gratitude. There is no one who could better speak to the cause of women and heart health than Dr. Nanette K. Wenger."

2026 Nanette Wenger, MD Award Recipient

Samia Mora, MD, MHS

Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Director of the Center for Lipid Metabolomics

Dr. Samia Mora is a cardiologist and molecular epidemiologist who has advanced research on lipids, inflammation, cardiometabolic diseases, and cardiovascular prevention in women.  She is Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, the Director of the Center for Lipid Metabolomics and Director of the Biorepository, Divisions of Preventive and Cardiovascular Medicine, and holds a joint appointment in the Division of Women’s Health, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Mass General Brigham, Boston. Dr. Mora's translational research leverages state-of-the-art high-throughput ‘omic' profiling, focusing on lipid biomarkers of cardiometabolic disease risk, the interplay with inflammation, and innovative modalities to prevent cardiovascular disease, with a focus on women.  Her research team has advanced techniques in cardiovascular risk prediction and prevention in women, including underlying mechanisms behind the cardiometabolic benefits of the Mediterranean diet and regular physical activity in women. Her 2010 study was the first to demonstrate that statin therapy prevents cardiovascular events in women without prior cardiovascular disease and led to more widespread use of statins in women.  She received her undergraduate and medical degrees from Harvard University, completed internal medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and cardiovascular fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she also obtained an MHS degree (Epidemiology). She is board certified in cardiovascular disease and echocardiography, and has served on the Editorial Board of JAMA Internal Medicine and Associate Editor of Atherosclerosis. She is an Elected Member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of University Cardiologists, the Association of American Physicians, and 2024 Honorary Lifetime Member of the National Lipid Association. She currently serves as Executive Board Member and President-Elect of the International Society of Atherosclerosis, and was a writing member of the 2026 ACC/AHA Dyslipidemia Guidelines.

Previous Winners of the Nanette Wenger Lectureship

2025 Harmony Reynolds, MD
2024 C. Noel Bairey Merz, MD
2023 Janet S. Wright, MD, MACC
2022 Carl J. Pepine, MD, MACC
2021 JoAnn Manson, MD, MPH, DrPH
2020 Leslee J. Shaw, PhD, FACC, MASNC, FAHA, FSCCT
2019 Martha Gulati, MD, MS, FACC, FAHA
2018 Lori Mosca
2016 Roxana Mehran
2015 Mary McGowan