Emory cardiology research fellow Muhammad Hammadah, MD, is among the top finalists in the 2016 American College of Cardiology’s Young Investigator Award Competition, an esteemed honor that recognizes young scientific investigators of promise, upon whom progress in the field of cardiology is dependent.

To be considered for a Young Investigator Award, candidates submitted a full manuscript summarizing any problem relating to cardiovascular disease, whether in etiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis or therapy. Five finalists were selected in each of four award categories and invited to attend the ACC’s 65th  Annual Scientific Session in Chicago to present their work during the Young Investigator Awards Competition.

Hammadah was among the top five finalists in the Physiology, Pharmacology and Pathology category, receiving an honorable mention for a study he presented on the blood protein, troponin and mental stress induced myocardial ischemia.

He and his colleagues at the Emory Clinical Cardiovascular Research Institute (ECCRI) found that heart disease patients who experience mental stress-induced ischemia tend to have higher baseline levels of troponin, a marker of recent stress or damage to the heart muscle.

The study was funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the NIH as a program project grant. The principal investigators are Arshed Quyyumi, Viola Vaccarino and Douglas Bremner. Quyyumi and Vaccarino are mentors of Hammadah.

"Dr. Hammadah is a worthy recipient of this prestigious honor," says Arshed A. Quyyumi, MD, professor of medicine (cardiology), Emory University School of Medicine and co-director of the ECCRI. 

"He is a tremendous asset to the field of cardiology and has a very bright future ahead of him."

For more information on the troponin study, please click here.