Stanford's Dr. Fatima Rodriguez to Receive Prestigious 2025 Joseph A. Vita Award for Cardiovascular Research

The American Heart Association has announced that Dr. Fatima Rodriguez, an associate professor of medicine and section chief of preventive cardiology at Stanford Medicine, will receive the 2025 Joseph A. Vita Award during the Association's Scientific Sessions 2025 in New Orleans. This prestigious award recognizes scientists whose research has significantly advanced cardiovascular biology or health within the past five years through work published in the Association's journals. Dr. Rodriguez will be honored during the opening session on November 9, 2025, at what is considered the premier global cardiovascular science conference.

The Joseph A. Vita Award, named after the late cardiovascular scientist who founded the Journal of the American Heart Association (JAHA), is selected by the editors-in-chief of the American Heart Association's 14 peer-reviewed scientific journals. Dr. Stacey E. Rosen, the Association's 2025-2026 volunteer president, stated that Dr. Rodriguez exemplifies the award's values through her innovative, impactful, and patient-centered work that has improved cardiovascular risk assessment and prevention strategies. This recognition matters because it highlights research that directly addresses critical gaps in cardiovascular care and prevention methodologies.

Dr. Rodriguez's multidisciplinary research program focuses on cardiometabolic disease prevention, leveraging technology and data science to personalize cardiovascular risk prediction and address outcome disparities across populations. Her work, funded by the American Heart Association, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, has transformed cardiovascular research direction through evidence-based interventions. The implications of this research are substantial as it moves the field toward more precise, individualized approaches to cardiovascular care that can potentially reduce health disparities and improve outcomes for diverse patient populations.

As a fellow of multiple professional organizations and president-elect of the Association's Bay Area Board, Dr. Rodriguez's contributions extend beyond research into clinical practice and advocacy. Expressing her honor at receiving the recognition, Dr. Rodriguez connected her career focus to personal family experiences with heart disease, emphasizing her commitment to developing more personalized and equitable treatment strategies. This personal connection underscores the human impact of her work and its potential to transform patient experiences with cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Rodriguez's educational background includes a medical degree from Harvard Medical School and a master of public health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, followed by residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital and cardiology fellowship at Stanford University. With over 270 peer-reviewed publications and previous honors including the 2022 Douglas P. Zipes Distinguished Young Scientist Award, Dr. Rodriguez's work continues to influence cardiovascular care standards and patient outcomes worldwide. The importance of this recognition extends beyond individual achievement, signaling a broader shift in cardiovascular medicine toward personalized, equitable approaches that could fundamentally change how heart disease is prevented and treated across global populations.