2024 Award of Meritorious Achievement winners honored for a new way of thinking about the overlapping effects of diseases

The music world's loss is the science world's gain in the case of Chiadi Ndumele and Janani Rangaswami.

Ndumele, 在新泽西长大的人, 和Rangaswami, 谁是在印度长大的, are both accomplished vocalists who might have had careers in singing if they hadn't opted for medicine.

从科学的角度来看, 他们的音乐生涯已经结束，这是件好事, 然而，它们仍然占据着舞台的中心. 团队合作, they've helped to establish and define cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) syndrome, 一种思考肥胖重叠效应的新方法, 2型糖尿病, 慢性肾脏疾病和心血管疾病.

都是美国心脏协会的长期志愿者, Ndumele 和Rangaswami were lead authors on an 美国心脏协会 2023 presidential advisory that spelled out the stages of CKM syndrome and suggested updates to the risk calculator that helps predict a person's likelihood of having a heart attack, 中风或心力衰竭. Their work is expected to transform patient-centric healthcare approaches around the world.

+, 他们的外交和谈判技巧是一流的, 据那些与他们密切合作过的人说. 这个项目对他们两人都进行了测试，他们以优异的成绩通过了测试.

感谢他们为帮助人们长寿所做的服务和努力, 更健康的生活, Ndumele 和Rangaswami will be honored with the AHA's Award of Meritorious Achievement during the organization's annual National 志愿者 Awards 仪式 5月2日. The award is given annually to individuals or organizations that have rendered an important service to the association.

“用他们的创新思维, 以及让总统顾问成为现实的不懈努力, Chiadi和Janani是提高CKM综合征认识的强有力的一对,玛丽埃尔·杰瑟普说, 他是美国心脏协会的首席科学和医疗官. "We especially appreciate how their work dovetails perfectly with our focus on equity for all."

恩杜梅尔从小就和家人一起唱和声，曾获得大学奖项 没有乐器伴奏的 唱歌——没有乐器的声音——甚至在白宫低声吟唱. "I loved singing," he said, "but I always knew science was going to be my main career focus."

Rangaswami is a professionally trained singer of South Indian (Carnatic) classical music and a third-generation musician who juggled science and music careers in India. 最后，医学取得了胜利. “同时从事两份职业真的很紧张，也很有意义, 但是太难了,她说.

一个好处是唱歌极大地提高了她的医患技巧.

"Being a performer teaches you a lot about reading an audience's emotions,她说. "It gives you an empathy and heightened sensitivity that you can bring to the bedside, 这是我非常感激的."

In a sense, heightened sensitivity is at the core of cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome. Placing the patient at the center of care instead of treating each individual condition on its own offers a holistic approach in shared decision-making for clinicians and patients.

"It's hard for a patient to navigate their illness when their cardiologist might be suggesting slightly different things than their nephrologist or endocrinologist or primary care physician. 以获得最佳的CKM护理, 我们需要从病人的角度考虑策略,”他说, an associate professor of medicine and director of obesity and cardiometabolic research in the division of cardiology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

作为心血管肾脏疾病专家, Rangaswami knows all too well the bias of viewing diseases as separate entities. After caring for several patients with kidney disease who suffered adverse consequences from a disproportionate burden of cardiovascular disease, 她了解了“写实主义”的概念," a term she describes as "the systematic exclusion of patients with kidney disease from cardiovascular disease therapies or trials."

Rangaswami said the AHA is "the perfect medium to elevate awareness of CKM syndrome."

"The project brings out that multidisciplinary spirit that is part of what the AHA stands for. The AHA brings together medical professionals from so many disciplines and backgrounds to make the best science happen,兰加斯瓦米说, chief of nephrology at the Washington DC VA Medical Center and a professor of medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine.

Ndumele said the AHA is uniquely qualified to support a major goal behind CKM syndrome: addressing social factors, 比如营养不足或缺乏锻炼的地方.

“CKM综合征是健康差距的直接原因, and the 美国心脏协会's mission includes enhancing equity and helping individuals from all backgrounds. 我们非常感谢这个奖项的影响力, 美国心脏协会让强大的科学成为可能."