The American Heart Association is recognized as a worldwide leader in cardiovascular science.  Countless top cardiovascular scientists throughout the world are linked in some way with us, as research recipients, council members, subscribers to our journals or recipients of awards that recognize scientific excellence. This list of Nobel Prize recipients confirms the claim that we are a focal point for excellence in cardiovascular research.
Seven scientists funded by the American Heart Association have won Nobel Prizes for the research we wholly or partially supported. They are:

• Martin Chalfie, Ph.D., recipient of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, received the British-American Research Fellowship from the American Heart Association in 1977. This fellowship gave U.S. postdocs access to training in Great Britain and British postdocs access to training in the United States. Dr. Chalfie's AHA-funded work used a fluorescence technique. Subsequently, Dr. Chalfie developed (by the mid-90's) green fluorescent protein (GFP), a visualization technique that has had a huge impact on our understanding of cellular structure and function of many cell types, including heart cells.
• Mario Capecchi, Ph.D., recipient of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, received American Heart Association Established Investigator Award funding from 1969-73. Dr. Capecchi was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discoveries in gene targeting.
• Peter Agre, M.D., recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, received American Heart Association Established Investigator funding from 1987-92. Dr. Agre was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery of aquaporins, proteins that govern the movement of water in and out of cells.
• Edwin Krebs, M.D., 1992 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, received funding from the American Heart Association in 1973. Dr. Krebs received the Nobel Prize, along with Edmond Fischer, Ph.D., for their discovery of how proteins are switched on to perform functions within cells.
• Michael Brown, M.D., and Joseph Goldstein, M.D., co-recipients of the 1985 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, received American Heart Association funding in 1972 and 1974. Drs. Brown and Goldstein received the Nobel Prize for their research on the role of low-density lipoprotein receptors in controlling blood cholesterol levels. Their research provided new insights into the ways fatty cholesterol enters body cells and why cholesterol levels may become too high.
• Earl Sutherland, M.D., 1971 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, received a Career Investigatorship from the American Heart Association's national research program in 1967. Dr. Sutherland received the Nobel Prize for identifying cyclic AMP as the intra-cellular messenger.
  Another researcher received American Heart Association funding early in his career and won a Nobel Prize but the prize was for research unrelated to our funding.
• Robert Furchgott, Ph.D., 1998 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, received American Heart Association funding from 1952-54. Dr. Furchgott was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery, along with Louis Ignarro, Ph.D., and Ferid Murad, M.D., Ph.D., of nitric oxide -- a colorless gas that makes blood vessels dilate by relaxing the vessels' smooth muscles.

The American Heart Association has also funded several researchers after they received the Nobel Prize. They include:

• Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, M.D., 1937 Nobel Prize recipient in Physiology or Medicine, received the first American Heart Association-supported research grant in 1948. The $25,000 grant covered equipment and staff salaries. Szent-Gyorgyi received a second American Heart Association grant (for $10,000) in 1949. Both grants enabled him to do fundamental studies on muscle energetics.
• Carl Cori, M.D., and Bernardo Houssay, M.D., recipients of the 1947 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (along with Gerty Cori, M.D.), received American Heart Association funding in 1959.

Other Nobel Prize-winning researchers have received American Heart Association awards or have had other affiliations with our association.

• Roger Tsien, Ph.D., recipient of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, received the American Heart Association's 1995 Basic Research Prize.
• Oliver Smithies, D.Phil., recipient of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, received the American Heart Association's CIBA Award for Hypertension Research in 1996 and is a longtime member of the association's Council for High Blood Pressure Research.
• Ferid Murad, M.D., Ph.D., recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, received the American Heart Association's CIBA Award for Hypertension Research in 1988 and Distinguished Scientist designation in 2008.
• Louis Ignarro, Ph.D., recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, received the American Heart Association's Basic Research Prize in 1998.
• Alfred Gilman, M.D., Ph.D., recipient of the 1994 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, received the American Heart Association's Basic Research Prize in 1990.
• Edmond Fischer, Ph.D., recipient of the 1992 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, received the American Heart Association's Basic Research Prize in 1987.