Ohio State's Heart and Vascular Center names 2023 Schottenstein Prize laureate

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center’s Heart and Vascular Center has named Richard Kitsis, MD, professor of medicine and cell biology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, as recipient of the 2023 Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein Prize in Cardiovascular Sciences. 

 

Awarded biennially, the Schottenstein Prize honors those at the forefront of cardiovascular sciences. Recipients of the prize have made extraordinary and sustained leadership contributions to improving health care. The Schottenstein Prize is among the largest monetary prizes in the United States dedicated to cardiovascular research. Kitsis will receive an honorarium of $100,000 and be honored during a ceremony on Nov. 14. 

 

“I am very honored to receive the Schottenstein Prize and am truly humbled to be listed alongside the previous distinguished recipients of the award,” said Kitsis, who is the Dr. Gerald and Myra Dorros Chair in Cardiovascular Disease at Albert Einstein and serves as director of the Einstein Wilf Family Cardiovascular Research Institute. 

 

“Dr. Kitsis’ pioneering research on the basic mechanisms of cardiovascular disease has opened up new therapeutic avenues for patients following a heart attack or stroke,” said Ernest Mazzaferri, MD, co-interim director of Ohio State’s Heart and Vascular Center and an interventional cardiologist.

 

A native of Boston, Kitsis graduated from Harvard College with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and completed medical school at the University of California San Francisco. His research is focused on cell death, particularly as it relates to heart disease. His lab was the first to show that regulated forms of cell death are primarily responsible for cardiac damage during myocardial infarction (heart attack) and has delineated novel cell death mechanisms relevant to cardiac and other diseases. 

 

Kitsis was a recipient of the President’s Distinguished Award of the International Society of Heart Research and has served as chair of the American Heart Association Council on Basic Cardiovascular Sciences and the NIH Myocardial Ischemia and Metabolism Study Section. 

 

While in Columbus, Kitsis will meet with several cardiovascular physicians and researchers at the Dorothy M. Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute.

 

“Dr. Kitsis has been an outstanding mentor to many renowned leaders and researchers in the cardiovascular field, including some here at Ohio State,” said Bryan Whitson, MD, co-interim director of Ohio State’s Heart and Vascular Center and a cardiothoracic surgeon.

 

Established by a $2 million endowment from humanitarian philanthropists Jeanie and Jay Schottenstein, the prize is chartered to The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center’s Heart and Vascular Center. The Schottensteins are long-time supporters of The Ohio State University.