金心奖得主的心脏病学事业是为了纪念他的母亲
Raised in blue-collar Boston by a single mother who worked at a meat packing company, Dr. 鲍勃·哈林顿说他的 卑微的出身塑造了他今天所坚持的价值观. But it was his mother's death from cardiac arrest at 42 that set him on course to the career that became his life's work.
"My younger sister, who was 16, found her dead on the bathroom floor one morning,他说. “我一直在想这件事. 这就是为什么, 当你在美国心脏协会的活动上看到我的时候, 我总是带着我的红色翻领笔."
红色连衣裙是女性和心脏病的国家象征, which Harrington champions as a longtime volunteer and past president of the AHA. 急性缺血性心脏病的全球权威, he is the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medicine and provost of medical affairs at Cornell University.
“除了我的家庭和工作, 为美国心脏协会服务是我一生中最重要的事情,他说.
作为2019 - 2020年的总统, Harrington guided the organization through an unprecedented global pandemic with an emphasis on clinical excellence, 研究创新, 真实世界的证据和卫生公平.
“他在美国心脏协会的职业生涯中具有远见卓识的领导能力, 特别是在大流行开始的时候, 一直是组织的指路明灯吗,南希·布朗说, 美国心脏协会首席执行官. "鲍勃拥有强大的商业技能, research acumen and clinical mastery that has allowed him to make our mission impact stronger than ever, 在我们的组织和心脏病学领域留下了不可磨灭的印记."
哈林顿的遗产还包括帮助领导一个勇敢的想法, serving on the Executive Committee of the AHA Institute for Precision Cardiovascular Medicine, co-chairing the Research Leaders Academy Planning Committee and chairing the Silicon Valley Heart Ball.
感谢他对变革的贡献, he will receive the AHA's highest volunteer honor — the Gold Heart Award — during the online National 志愿者 Awards 仪式 周四,从6点到8点.m. 中央.
这一切的根源
As he reflects on his path to this moment, Harrington recalls the community where it began.
"We lived in a tiny house next door to my mother's parents, Gramps and Nana Gatti. In the house next to that was my godfather, and next to that was my mother's sister and her family. It wasn't quite the Kennedy Compound, but it was a great way to live,他说 with a smile.
亚瑟·加迪(Arthur Gatti)是一名意大利移民,只受过七年级教育, 谁当过木匠和屋顶工人. 娜娜·加蒂是哈佛大学宿舍的女佣.
“像我这样的孩子没有上过大学,更不用说哈佛了,”哈林顿说. “爷爷会告诉我,‘要想离开这里,你必须接受教育.' "
Harrington heeded that advice and hit the books, rising to the top of his high school class. 在申请并被几所大学录取之后, 他选择了45英里外伍斯特的圣十字学院. Getting into college was easy for a scholar like him; paying for it was another story.
“我们没有钱,但我妈妈想出了一个办法,”他说. “她贷款,我也贷款,她工作很努力. 我得到了一些奖学金,一些经济援助. 我们拼凑起来,然后我去上大学了."
着眼于医学的未来, 他起初主修化学, 然后在大一之后转到了英语专业. 他母亲不加评判地祝福了他.
“这是多么勇敢啊? 这是这个女人, 谁没受过高中以上的教育, 为了让大儿子上大学,她倾家荡产,他说. “她问我,‘你想做什么?' "
她死的时候他是大四学生. 从那以后他所做的一切都是为了纪念她. 他的导师是圣十字学院的校友,名叫. 迈克尔·柯林斯,帮他度过了想要放弃的艰难时期.
哈林顿充分利用了文科教育的优势, 沉浸在历史课程中, 政治科学, 文学名著, 剧院, 音乐和更多. He figured he would stand out from other medical school applicants whose focus was science.
这个策略奏效了. 在申请了至少八所医学院之后, 他被达特茅斯的盖泽尔医学院录取了.
“我用它作为一个例子,你只需要得到一次机会, 而你如何利用这个机会才会有不同,他说.
向前和向上
哈林顿在达特茅斯待了两年,然后转到塔夫茨大学. After an internship and residency at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, 他学过心脏病学, interventional cardiology and research at the Duke Databank for Cardiovascular Disease (precursor to the Duke Clinical Research Institute) under its director, Dr. 罗伯特·卡利夫.
他后来接替卡利夫担任董事, 将研究所发展成为世界上最大的学术研究机构.
Then, Stanford University School of Medicine lured him west as chair of its department of medicine.
与此同时, Harrington accepted another big role as the top organizer for the AHA's flagship meeting, 科学会议. He served two terms on the AHA's board of directors and a year as president-elect. 2019年,他成为该组织第84任主席.
“证据很重要”成了他的总统口头禅. 正如他在就职演说中指出的那样, 在寻找证据的过程中,资金是一个永恒的挑战, but the AHA stands in the gap as the largest nonprofit funder of cardiovascular and stroke research outside the federal government. Harrington's own handprints are evident on the organization's distribution of millions in Rapid Research Grants for fast-tracked studies of how COVID-19 impacts cardiovascular and cerebrovascular systems.
他仍然积极参与美国心脏协会的工作, 担任顾问并参加小组讨论, including groundbreaking discussions on the emerging science of cardiorenal medicine. And that English degree has served him well in authoring more than 760 peer-reviewed papers, 文章和书籍章节.
Harrington says he cherishes the relationships he has built during more than 30 years of doing research, 照顾病人,为美国心脏协会做志愿者.
“在圣十字接受教育, 我深受耶稣会[格言]的影响。, 男人和女人都是为了别人,他说. "I want to be remembered as someone who lived the AHA mission to be a relentless force for a world of longer, 更健康的生活."