Background on Rose Marie Robertson, M.D.

Chief Science Officer

American Heart Association

 

Rose Marie Robertson, M.D., is Chief Science Officer of the American Heart Association and Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee.

She received a BA degree from Manhattanville College, Purchase, N.Y., in 1966 and her MD from Harvard Medical School in 1970. She trained in internal medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital from 1970-72 and in cardiology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital from 1973-75.

 

Dr. Robertson joined the faculty of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 1975, where she taught, saw patients, pursued NIH-supported research in the area of autonomic cardiovascular control, and directed the Vanderbilt Women’s Heart Institute.  She was also an investigator in the Vanderbilt Center for Space Physiology and Medicine.  She has been elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation, is a founding member of the Association for Patient-Oriented Research and the American Autonomic Society, and has served on numerous review and advisory committees for the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the American College of Cardiology and the European Society of Cardiology.  She is the author of numerous original articles in the peer-reviewed literature as well as multiple book chapters in the area of cardiovascular disease and therapy.

 

Dr. Robertson began to volunteer for the American Heart Association in the 1970s and served as President of the national organization from 2000-2001.  During her tenure, the Association signed a historic and on-going Memorandum of Understanding committing to common goals in the reduction of heart disease and stroke with the Office of the Surgeon General, the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the National Institute of Neurologic Diseases and Stroke, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, later joined by the Indian Health Services.  She joined the staff of the AHA in January, 2003 as Chief Science Officer.

 

Dr. Robertson chairs the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s National Advisory Committee for the Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Award, serves on the Advisory Board for the Discovery Channel Medical Awards, and chairs the Science/Research Working Group for the CDC and NIH’s National Public Heath Action Plan’s implementation.  

 

Dr. Robertson was an American Heart Association Established Investigator from 1983 to 1985. In 1993, she received the Gold Heart Award of the AHA Tennessee Affiliate, and in June 1999 she received the association’s national Award of Meritorious Achievement for “rendering an important service to the American Heart Association in the development of its national programs.”  In June, 2001, Dr. Robertson received the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Partner in Public Health award.