Elizabeth Nabel

Last updated
Elizabeth G. Nabel, M.D.
Nabel in her lab at the NHLBI.jpg
Alma mater St. Olaf College
Weill Cornell Medical College
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Known for
Scientific career
FieldsCardiovascular biology
Academic Medicine
Institutions US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Harvard Medical School
University of Michigan

Elizabeth Nabel is an American cardiologist and Executive Vice President of Strategy at ModeX Therapeutics and OPKO Health. Prior to this role, she served as President of Brigham Health and its Brigham and Women's Hospital, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Director of the NIH's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Contents

Early life and education

Nabel was born Elizabeth Emilee Guenthner and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota. Nabel became interested in biomedicine during scientific research at St. Olaf College. She graduated summa cum laude from St. Olaf in 1974 and earned her MD degree from Weill Cornell Medical College in 1981. [1] As a senior medical student, she spent a month's elective in cardiology at the Brigham and Women's Hospital.

She later returned to Brigham and Women’s Hospital for her house staff training in internal medicine, interested in linking clinical medicine with research. She considered cardiology the best match for her because she considered it the best specialty to make advances as a physician-scientist. [2]

Career

In 1987, on completion of fellowships in Boston, Nabel and husband Gary Nabel moved to the University of Michigan, where Nabel ascended through the academic ranks to Professor of Medicine and Physiology and Director of a new, interdepartmental, and multidisciplinary Cardiovascular Research Center and became Chief of the Cardiology Division. Nabel moved to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 1999 to become Scientific Director of Clinical Research and Chief of the Vascular Biology Section in the intramural program of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI). As director of the NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute from 2005 to 2009, Nabel had a history of advocacy and broadening access to care. She leveraged the $3 billion research portfolio to establish pioneering scientific programs in genomics, stem cells, and translational research. [3] During her tenure, NHLBI was the first NIH institute to expedite review for new investigator research grant applications. She was a co-founder of the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases. One of her signature advocacy efforts was the Red Dress Heart Truth campaign, which is designed to raise heart awareness among women through industry partnerships.

In 2010, Nabel returned to Brigham and Women’s Hospital as president and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. At Brigham Health, Nabel led an organizational transformation focused on innovation and building a collaborative culture to reshape healthcare delivery, compassionate care, scientific discovery, and training the next generation of medical and scientific leaders. [4] [5] Her focus was on global expansion of Brigham Health, research commercialization and philanthropy, having raised more than $1.75 billion. [6] [7] In 2021, Nabel joined ModeX Therapeutics, a company she founded with Drs. Gary Nabel and Elias Zerhouni focused on immune therapies for cancer and infectious diseases. [8]

Biomedical research

Nabel’s work on the molecular genetics of cardiovascular diseases has produced 17 patents and more than 250 scientific publications. Nabel’s scientific contributions in cardiovascular gene transfer have developed molecular and cellular techniques, [9] delineated the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis, [10] and clarified the processes of cell division and growth of vascular smooth muscle cells in blood vessels. [11]

Nabel's studies on Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome have characterized the vascular smooth muscle cell defect leading to premature heart attack and stroke. She conducted clinical studies to understand the contribution of genetic factors to proliferative and inflammatory diseases in blood vessels, including common diseases like atherosclerosis and the rare, premature aging in Hutchinson Gilford progeria syndrome. [12] In November 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved lonafarnib, which helps prevent buildup of defective progerin and similar proteins. [13] A clinical trial in 2018 pointed to significantly lower mortality rates ~ treatment with lonafarnib alone compared with no treatment (3.7% vs. 33.3%) ~ at a median post-trial follow-up time span of 2.2 years. [14]

At her NHLBI laboratory, Nabel delineated the mechanisms by which cell cycle and growth factor proteins regulate the proliferation of vascular cells in blood vessels, a process important for the development of atherosclerosis and restenosis. Her vascular biology laboratory characterized the role of cell cycle inhibitors on vascular proliferation and inflammation, and this research has opened up new avenues for therapeutic targets in the vasculature. [15] Nabel contributed to both policy and basic research on embryonic stem cells.

National Football League

Building on her lifelong commitment to improving health through science, in 2015 Nabel was appointed chief health and medical advisor to the National Football League. In this newly created advisory role, Nabel provided strategic input to the NFL’s medical, health and scientific efforts; participated as an ex-officio member on each of the NFL’s medical advisory committees; and identified areas for the NFL to enhance player safety, care and treatment. [16] Nabel stepped down from this role in 2017 after she guided the NFL to hire its first Chief Medical Officer.

Boards

Nabel serves on the Boards of Medtronic, [17] Moderna, [18] Lyell, [19] Accolade, [20] the Lasker Foundation, [21] and South Florida PBS. [22]

Nabel has served on the editorial boards of eighteen journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine , Science , Journal of Clinical Investigation , Science Translational Medicine, and Circulation.

Nabel served on Moderna’s Scientific Advisory Board at its inception in 2010 and subsequently joined the Board of Directors in 2015. She has helped guide the company through its formative stages and facilitated the development of its technologies, including Moderna’s generation of its COVID vaccine. In August 2020, she temporarily stepped down from the Moderna Board “out of an abundance of caution to avoid any potential of even apparent conflict of interest on her part or Moderna’s part” because Brigham and Women’s Hospital was participating as one of 89 trial sites for the Moderna COVID vaccine. [23] The Boston Globe’s Spotlight raised concerns about Boston hospital presidents, including Nabel, serving on public boards, [24] but these concerns never rose to significance and Brigham and Women’s Hospital “defended Nabel’s presence on the board, saying it did not play a role in choosing the Brigham as a testing site.” [25]

In March 2021, when Nabel stepped down from Brigham and Women’s Hospital [26] she joined Drs. Gary Nabel and Elias Zerhouni at the biotechnology company they co-founded, ModeX Therapeutics. [27] [28]

She rejoined the Moderna Board of Directors in March 2021. [29]

Awards

Nabel has been named one of the nation’s top leaders in medicine by Modern Healthcare [30] and Becker’s Hospital Review, [31] and one of Boston’s 50 most powerful people by Boston Magazine. [32] Her honors include the Distinguished Bostonian Award from the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, [33] the Kober Medal from the Association of American Physicians, [34] the Champion in Health Care award from the Boston Business Journal, [35] and the Rambam Award from Rambam Health Care Campus in Israel. [36] She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the Association of American Physicians, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and she is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Global health and healthcare

Nabel has engaged collaboratively in strengthening healthcare delivery systems in Rwanda, Haiti and China. Supporting [Partners in Health], Nabel helped create and open Butaro Hospital in Northern Rwanda in 2011. [37] Healthcare services from Brigham and Women’s Hospital provided physician, nursing, pathology and cancer care. In 2013, the Medical School and Mirebalais Hospital in central Haiti was opened, offering medical school training for Haiti physicians and medical care. [38] In collaboration with [Dana-Farber Cancer institute], a cancer hospital in Boao China was opened in 2018. [39]

Related Research Articles

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) is the third largest Institute of the National Institutes of Health, located in Bethesda, Maryland, United States. It is tasked with allocating about $3.6 billion in FY 2020 in tax revenue to advancing the understanding of the following issues: development and progression of disease, diagnosis of disease, treatment of disease, disease prevention, reduction of health care disparities within the American population, and advancing the effectiveness of the US medical system. NHLBI's Director is Gary H. Gibbons (2012–present).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass General Brigham</span> Health care system based in Greater Boston, Massachusetts

Mass General Brigham is a not-for-profit, integrated health care system that is a national leader in medical research, teaching, and patient care. It is the largest hospital-based research enterprise in the United States, with annual funding of more than $2 billion. The system's annual revenue was nearly $18 billion in 2022. It is also an educational institution, founded by Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. The system provides clinical care through two academic hospitals, three specialty hospitals, seven community hospitals, home care services, a health insurance plan, and a robust network of specialty practices, urgent care facilities, and outpatient clinics/surgical centers. It is the largest private employer in Massachusetts. In 2023, the system reported that from 2017–2021 its overall economic impact was $53.4 billion – more than the annual state budget.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brigham and Women's Hospital</span> Hospital in Massachusetts, United States

Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is the second largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and the largest hospital in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Along with Massachusetts General Hospital, it is one of the two founding members of Mass General Brigham, the largest healthcare provider in Massachusetts. Robert Higgins, MD, MSHA serves as the hospital's current president.

Stephen E. Epstein is the Head of Translational and Vascular Biology Research at the MedStar Heart and Vascular Institute, MedStar Washington Hospital Center and Clinical Professor of Medicine at the Georgetown University School of Medicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maine Medical Center</span> Hospital in Maine, United States

Maine Medical Center is a 700-licensed-bed teaching hospital in Portland, Maine, United States. Affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine, it is located in the Western Promenade neighborhood. It has a staff of over 9,500. The facility is one of only three Level I Trauma Centers in Northern New England. Founded in 1874, it is the largest hospital in northern New England with 28,000 inpatient visits, about 500,000 outpatient visits, 88,000 emergency visits, and over 27,000 surgeries performed annually. MMC is structured as a non-profit, private corporation governed by volunteer trustees. Maine Medical Center is wholly owned by, and serves as the flagship hospital for, MaineHealth, a non-profit healthcare network servicing Maine and New Hampshire.

The Society for Women's Health Research (SWHR) is a national non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. SWHR is the thought leader in research on biological differences in disease and is dedicated to transforming women's health through science, advocacy, and education.

Marianne J. Legato is an American physician, author, lecturer, and renowned expert in gender-specific medicine, which focuses on understanding how biological sex and gender influence human health and the experience of diseases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Shurin</span>

Susan Shurin is a senior adviser at the National Cancer Institute. From 2006–2014, she served as Deputy and Acting Director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rafael Beyar</span>

Rafael (Rafi) Beyar is an Israeli medical doctor, entrepreneur, and professor who is the eighth director of Rambam Health Care Campus since 1996. Beyar, an authority on interventional cardiology, also continues to practice in his specialty of clinical invasive cardiology. Beyar is the editor of several books related to cardiology and electrophysiology, including Frontiers in Interventional Cardiology, Proceedings from International Meetings, Analysis of Cardiac Development: from Embryo to Old Age; and co-founder of Corindus Vascular Robotics.

Paula Adina Johnson is an American cardiologist and the current president of Wellesley College. She is the first Black woman to serve in this role. The first Black graduate of Wellesley College came in the year 1887, and 129 years later President Johnson became the first Black leader. Prior to her role as president of Wellesley, Johnson founded and served as the inaugural executive director of the Mary Horrigan Connors Center for Women's Health & Gender Biology, as well as Chief of the Division of Women's Health at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Johnson was the Grace A. Young Family Professor of Medicine in the field of women's health, an endowed professorship named in honor of her mother, at Harvard Medical School. She was also Professor of Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and has been featured as a national leader in medicine by the National Library of Medicine.

The North American Vascular Biology Organization is a scientific society promoting knowledge exchange in the area of vascular biology. The society organises several international scientific meetings annually which broadly cover the areas of development of blood and lymphatic vasculature, cardiovascular and lymphatic disease, vascular matrix biology and vascular bioengineering.

Nehal N. Mehta, is an American cardiologist at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in Bethesda, Maryland where he studies the role of innate immunity and inflammation in the development of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.

Susan Redline is an American pulmonary specialist. She is the Peter C. Farrell Professor of Sleep Medicine and Professor of Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Michelle Asha Albert is an American physician who is the Walter A. Haas Lucie-Stern Endowed Chair in Cardiology and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Albert is director of the UCSF Center for the Study of Adversity and Cardiovascular Disease. She is president of the American Heart Association. She served as the president of the Association of Black Cardiologists in 2020–2022 and as president of the Association of University Cardiologists (2021–2022). Albert is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, the American Society of Clinical Investigators and the Association of American Physicians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason C. Kovacic</span> Australian cardiologist and physician

Jason C. Kovacic is an Australian-born cardiologist and physician-scientist; the Robert Graham Chair and Professor of Medicine, University of New South Wales; Executive Director of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute in Sydney, Australia; and Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monica Bertagnolli</span> American surgical oncologist (born 1959)

Monica Bertagnolli is an American surgical oncologist and the 17th director of the National Institutes of Health. She previously served as the 16th director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Prior to her governmental positions, she worked at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Dana–Farber Cancer Institute and was the Richard E. Wilson Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cynthia E. Dunbar</span> American hematologist

Cynthia Dunbar is an American scientist and hematologist at the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She is the Branch Chief of the Translational Stem Cell Biology Branch.

Sanjay Rajagopalan is the Herman Hellerstein Professor of Medicine and Chief Scientific and Medical Officer at the Harrington Heart and Vascular Institute, University Hospitals and Professor Medicine at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Cleveland, Ohio. He holds secondary appointments in the Case Western Reserve University Departments of Physiology, Radiology and Biomedical Engineering. Much of his research has been on using technology to guide the detection and treatment of heart disease and more recently on the impact of environmental exposures and climate change on cardiovascular health.

Julie Elizabeth Buring is an American epidemiologist and professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

References

  1. ↑ "Dr. Elizabeth G. Nabel '74". St. Olaf College. Archived from the original on December 18, 2007. Retrieved July 18, 2008.
  2. ↑ Braunwald, Eugene (July 1, 2014). "Introduction of Elizabeth G. Nabel". Journal of Clinical Investigation. 124 (7): 2827–2831. doi:10.1172/JCI77276. PMC   4072024 . PMID   24983422 . Retrieved February 13, 2021.
  3. ↑ "Nabel Bio". Nhlbi.nih.gov. Archived from the original on June 11, 2019.
  4. ↑ Baird, John (June 21, 2022). Leading With Heart. Harper Business. p. 213. ISBN   0063277247.
  5. ↑ "Brigham and Women's Hospital Once Again Ranked on U.S. News & World Report's List of Nation's Best Hospitals".
  6. ↑ "BWH Press Release - Brigham and Women's Hospital". Brighamandwomens.org.
  7. ↑ "Brigham and Women's Hospital Concludes Historic $1.75 Billion Fundraising Campaign".
  8. ↑ "Brigham and Women's president to step down". The Boston Globe.
  9. ↑ Nabel EG, Plautz G, Nabel GJ. Site-specific gene expression in vivo by direct gene transfer into the arterial wall. Science 1990;249:1285-1288
  10. ↑ Nabel EG, Yang Z-Y, Plautz G, Forough R, Zhan X, Haudenschild CC, Maciag T, Nabel GJ. Recombinant fibroblast growth factor-1 promotes intimal hyperplasia and angiogenesis in arteries in vivo. Nature 1993;362:844-846
  11. ↑ Ohno T, Gordon D, San H, Pompili VJ, Imperiale MJ, Nabel GJ, Nabel EG. Gene therapy for vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation after arterial injury. Science 1994;265:781-784
  12. ↑ Capell BC, Olive M, Erdos MR, Cao K, Faddah DA, Tavarez UL, Conneely KN, Qu X, San H, Ganesh SK, Chen X, Avallone H, Kolodgie FD, Virmani R, Nabel EG, Collins FS (2008). "A farnesyltransferase inhibitor prevents both the onset and late progression of cardiovascular disease in a progeria mouse model". Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 105 (41): 15902–7. Bibcode:2008PNAS..10515902C. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0807840105 . PMC   2562418 . PMID   18838683.
  13. ↑ "FDA Approves First Drug For Rare, Rapid-Aging Genetic Disorder". NPR.org.
  14. ↑ Gordon, Leslie B.; Shappell, Heather; Massaro, Joe; D’Agostino, Ralph B.; Brazier, Joan; Campbell, Susan E.; Kleinman, Monica E.; Kieran, Mark W. (April 24, 2018). "Association of Lonafarnib Treatment vs No Treatment With Mortality Rate in Patients With Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome". JAMA. 319 (16): 1687–1695. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.3264. PMC   5933395 . PMID   29710166.
  15. ↑ Nabel EG. Genomic medicine: cardiovascular disease. N Engl J Med 2003;349:60-72.
  16. ↑ Weisman, Robert (February 9, 2015). "Brigham and Women's chief named NFL medical adviser". The Boston Globe . Retrieved February 5, 2019.
  17. ↑ "MEDTRONIC PLC BOARD OF DIRECTORS".
  18. ↑ "Moderna - About Us".
  19. ↑ "Lyell - About Us".
  20. ↑ "Betsy Nabel and Jeff Brodsky join Accolade Board of Directors".
  21. ↑ "Lasker Foundation - Board of Directors".
  22. ↑ "South Florida PBS - Board of Directors".
  23. ↑ "Moderna Announces Resignation of Dr. Elizabeth Nabel From Board of Directors" (PDF).
  24. ↑ Kowalczyk, Liz; Ryley, Sarah L.; Arsenault, Mark; Wen, Patricia (April 3, 2021). "Boston's hospital chiefs moonlight on corporate boards at rates far beyond the national level". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  25. ↑ Bernsau, W. Marc (10 March 2021). "Former Brigham and Women's CEO rejoins Moderna Board". Boston Business Journal. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  26. ↑ "Betsy Nabel, MD, to Step Down as President of Brigham Health".
  27. ↑ Taylor, Nick Paul (January 6, 2021). "Nabel to leave Brigham to join ex-Sanofi CSO husband at biotech startup". Fierce Boston. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  28. ↑ McCluskey, Priyanka Dayal (January 5, 2021). "Brigham and Women's president to step down". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  29. ↑ Bartlett, Jessica (March 10, 2021). "Former Brigham and Women's CEO rejoins Moderna board". Boston Business Journal. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  30. ↑ Brooks, Megan (May 4, 2015). "America's Top 25 Women in Healthcare". Medscape.
  31. ↑ Adamopoulos, Helen (6 Aug 2014). "24 of the leading women to know in healthcare". Becker's Hospital Review.
  32. ↑ "Boston's 50 Most Powerful People". Boston Magazine. April 28, 2015.
  33. ↑ "Distinguished Bostonians". Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. May 7, 2015. Archived from the original on May 18, 2015.
  34. ↑ "Kober Medal". Association of American Physicians.
  35. ↑ "BBJ names 2013's Champions in Health Care". Boston Business Journal. 22 July 2013.
  36. ↑ "Rambam Health Care Campus - Dr. Elizabeth G. Nabel". Rambam.org.il.
  37. ↑ "The Moral Medical Mission: Partners In Health, 25 Years On".
  38. ↑ "State-Of-The-Art Hospital Offers Hope For Haiti".
  39. ↑ Evans, Melanie (22 April 2018). "U.S. Hospital Firms, Hungry to Expand, Look to China". Wall Street Journal.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.