Newswise — LOS ANGELES (May 15, 2012) – Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute is honoring Eugene Braunwald, MD, Distinguished Hersey Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, with The Eliot Corday, MD, International Prize in Heart Research. The Corday Prize has been established to recognize physicians and scientists conducting groundbreaking research that has, or very likely will, change the practice of heart medicine. Braunwald is the inaugural recipient of the annual prize.

Braunwald is a preeminent researcher, physician and educator who has been a major force in cardiology in the past half century. As founding Chairman of the TIMI Study Group at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, he has changed practice guidelines and made significant contributions to improving prognosis and quality of life for patients with cardiovascular disease.

“Dr. Corday’s myriad achievements have touched the lives of several generations around the globe,” says Shlomo Melmed, MD, Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the Medical Faculty at Cedars-Sinai. “We are thrilled to expand his legacy through the International Prize in Heart Research. Dr. Braunwald, an acclaimed leader of American Medicine, is the ideal physician-scientist role model and the perfect recipient for a prize recognizing transformational heart research.”

The Corday Prize is named for the late Eliot Corday, MD, a distinguished cardiologist who was an attending physician with Cedars-Sinai and a member of its board of directors. Dr. Corday was an influential scientist, clinician and educator who helped to pioneer invasive cardiology. He collaborated on research that led to modern stress testing and nuclear cardiology. His interests in sudden cardiac death and ischemic – or silent – heart disease contributed to the development of coronary intensive care units. Corday’s leadership had global impact, as he championed increased federal funding for medical research and the sharing of American cardiovascular expertise worldwide. He served as president of the American College of Cardiology and in a consultant capacity at high levels of the United States government.

“Dr. Braunwald’s impressive work opened the door to the entire field of modern heart-attack treatment,” says Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute Director, Eduardo Marbán, MD. “It is a true privilege to establish this award by presenting it to such a highly respected and distinguished physician-researcher.”

The Corday Prize is funded by a gift from Los Angeles resident Brindell Gottlieb and her late husband, Milton. The Gottlieb family has longstanding ties with both Cedars-Sinai and the Corday family.

Braunwald is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including laurels from the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, and the European Society of Cardiology. He was the first cardiologist elected to the National Academy of Sciences of the United States. In the year 2000, the living Nobel Prize winners in medicine voted Braunwald as “the person who has contributed the most to cardiology in recent years.”