The American Heart Association will present its 2026 Chairman's Award to Cheryl A.M. Anderson, Ph.D., M.P.H., FAHA, founding dean of the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), during Scientific Sessions 2026, Nov. 6-9 in Chicago. The award recognizes medical and science volunteers whose leadership advances the Association's goals beyond their scientific contributions.
An internationally recognized nutrition and cardiovascular disease epidemiologist, Anderson has helped shape the Association's strategy, strengthen its volunteer community and translate evidence into action in communities across the country. Lee A. Shapiro, J.D., 2025-27 volunteer chairperson of the Association's National Board of Directors, said, "Few volunteer leaders have shaped the work of the American Heart Association as broadly or deeply as Dr. Cheryl Anderson, and it is a privilege to recognize her with the 2026 Chairman's Award." Shapiro added that her impact extends beyond her scientific accomplishments, bringing people together around bold goals, mentoring emerging leaders and turning evidence into action.
Anderson's commitment to community health was recently demonstrated through UC San Diego's Revive and Survive initiative, developed in partnership with the American Heart Association's San Diego team. The initiative reached its goal of training 1 million people in San Diego in bystander CPR, uniting 49 partners across public health, public safety, education, business and community organizations around the shared goal of creating a Nation of Lifesavers. This matters because bystander CPR can significantly improve survival rates from cardiac arrest, a leading cause of death worldwide.
Anderson has also helped advance the emerging field of Food is Medicine. As part of the volunteer leadership team guiding the Association's inaugural Food is Medicine research planning efforts, she helped shape a scientifically rigorous portfolio focused on how nutrition interventions can support engagement, adherence and lasting behavior change. She has championed nutrition-related public policy through the Association's Council on Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health and influenced national and international policy through service on the National Academy of Medicine's Food and Nutrition Board and the 2025 U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee.
Most recently, she represented the Association on the writing committee for the 2026 multi-society Joint Guideline on the Management of Dyslipidemia and co-authored the Association's 2026 scientific statement, "Dietary Guidance to Improve Cardiovascular Health." These guidelines and statements are critical tools for clinicians and the public, as they synthesize the latest evidence to inform prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death globally.
A dedicated volunteer since 2004, Anderson has served on the National Board of Directors and chaired the Council Operations Committee, the Council on Epidemiology and Prevention and the Nutrition Committee for the Council on Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health. She has also served on the Science Advisory and Coordinating Committee and the Advocacy Coordinating Committee, helping strengthen collaboration among professional members, councils and volunteers. Her research has deepened understanding of how sodium, nutrition and healthy eating patterns influence cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, Type 2 diabetes and other chronic conditions.
As founding dean of UC San Diego's Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, she has led significant growth in interdisciplinary education, research and innovation. She also serves as a professor in the division of nephrology and hypertension and the department of radiation medicine and applied sciences and holds the Hood Family Endowed Dean's Chair in Public Health. Anderson said, "I am deeply honored to receive this award from the American Heart Association, an organization I admire for its commitment to research, advocacy and developing the next generation of cardiovascular health leaders."
Additional resources, including multimedia, are available on the right column of the release link. For more news at Scientific Sessions 2026, follow the Association on X @HeartNews, #ScientificSessions26. The American Heart Association, a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives, has been a leading source of health information for more than one hundred years. Learn more at heart.org and stroke.org.
