Pediatric Cardiology Researcher-Scientist at Stanford Children’s Health Honored for Lifetime of Contributions

Marlene Rabinovitch, MD, a pediatric cardiologist at Stanford Children's Health and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford, and the Dwight and Vera Dunlevie Professor of Pediatric Cardiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine, will give the 2016 J. Burns Amberson Lecture at the American Thoracic Society's annual meeting in San Francisco on May 15. (Photo: Business Wire)

STANFORD, Calif.--()--Marlene Rabinovitch, MD, a pediatric cardiologist at Stanford Children’s Health and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, and the Dwight and Vera Dunlevie Professor of Pediatric Cardiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine, will give the 2016 J. Burns Amberson Lecture at the American Thoracic Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco on May 15.

The lecture honors the late Dr. Amberson, an international authority on chest disease and tuberculosis, and recognizes “a career of major lifetime contributions to clinical or basic pulmonary research and/or clinical practice.”

Known for research and scholarly contributions throughout her long career, Rabinovitch has had a major impact on understanding the pathogenesis and management of life-threatening forms of congenital heart disease and pulmonary hypertension. Results from her research are regularly translated into new clinical treatment paradigms.

Joseph Wu, MD, PhD, director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, was one of 10 national and international health-care leaders nominating Rabinovitch. “We’re ecstatic that Dr. Rabinovitch is receiving this much-deserved award,” Wu said. “It’s a fitting salute to her extraordinary career of achievement and overall contributions to the field of pulmonary medicine.”

“This is truly an overwhelming honor,” said Rabinovitch, who has long been an active member of the society. “I share this with all the young scientists who have worked so hard in our laboratory and with colleagues whose work has both challenged and inspired us. In addition, I am thankful for the collaborating basic scientists who have facilitated our ability to apply cutting-edge methodology and have been generous in helping us interpret our results, and with clinical scientists who are bringing our discoveries to clinical trial.”

Rabinovitch received her bachelor’s and medical degrees from McGill University in Montreal. She did her post-doctorial training in pediatrics at the University of Colorado Medical Center in Denver and her fellowship at Children's Hospital Medical Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston. Prior to joining Stanford in 2002, she was an assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, and then became the Robert M. Freedom Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario Professor of Pediatrics, Medicine, and Pathobiology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Toronto. In addition, she was director of cardiovascular research at the Research Institute of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

In addition to the Amberson Lecture Award, Rabinovitch received the 2015 Mentor Award of Excellence from the Department of Pediatrics at the School of Medicine. Other significant recognitions have included the Judith Pool Mentoring Award from the Northern California Chapter of American Women in Science; the Louis and Artur Lucian Award for Research in Circulatory Diseases from McGill University; the Scientific Accomplishment Award from the American Thoracic Society; and the Basic Research Prize and Distinguished Scientist Award from the American Heart Association.

“In her extraordinary, 30-year career, Dr. Rabinovitch has made incredible contributions to our understanding of congenital and acquired pulmonary hypertension,” said Hugh O’Brodovich, MD, the Adalyn Jay Physician-in-Chief at Packard Children's and professor of pediatrics at the School of Medicine. “She is recognized throughout the world of pediatric and adult cardiology as an amazing scientist, teacher and clinician. Through the Amberson Lecture, she will no doubt bring great inspiration to current and future leaders in this field, and we are extremely proud to call her one or our own.”

* Discover more about the work of Dr. Rabinovitch here.
* Our Children’s Heart Center outcomes surpass peer hospital averages, with higher marks in survival rates and average length of stay.

About Stanford Children’s Health and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford

Stanford Children’s Health, with Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at its core, is the largest Bay Area health care enterprise exclusively dedicated to children and expectant mothers. Long recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of America’s best, we are a leader in world-class, nurturing care and extraordinary outcomes in every pediatric and obstetric specialty, with care ranging from the routine to rare, regardless of a family’s ability to pay. Together with our Stanford Medicine physicians, nurses, and staff, we can be accessed through partnerships, collaborations, outreach, specialty clinics and primary care practices at more than 60 locations in Northern California and 100 locations in the U.S. western region. As a non-profit, we are committed to supporting our community – from caring for uninsured or underinsured kids, homeless teens and pregnant moms, to helping re-establish school nurse positions in local schools. Learn more at stanfordchildrens.org and on our Healthier, Happy Lives blog. You can also discover how we are Building the Hospital of the Future. Join us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Contacts

Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital
Robert Dicks, 650-497-8364
rdicks@stanfordchildrens.org

Release Summary

Marlene Rabinovitch, MD, a pediatric cardiologist at Stanford Children’s Health, will give the 2016 J. Burns Amberson Lecture at the American Thoracic Society’s annual meeting.

Contacts

Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital
Robert Dicks, 650-497-8364
rdicks@stanfordchildrens.org