Awardee has devoted his career to exploring the heart-brain connection

Growing up in the New York City suburb of New Rochelle, Mitch Elkind dreamed of becoming a creative writer or journalist. Although he was fascinated with the philosophy of the mind, he never imagined he'd become a neurologist.

"My father, Arthur Elkind, was a headache specialist. So, I was around neurologists and neuroscientists just by virtue of going to meetings with him," he said. "I always liked thinking about how the mind works, and that led to a fascination with the brain and neuroscience."

Today, the Harvard-, Cambridge- and Columbia-educated Elkind is a renowned neurologist and epidemiologist and former chief of the Columbia University Division of Neurology Clinical Outcomes Research and Population Sciences.

In 2020, he became the second neurologist to lead the American Heart Association as president, building on the legacy of his mentor and the organization's first neurologist president — Dr. Ralph Sacco.

"Ralph was head of the stroke program at Columbia University when I went to work for him as a fellow in 1996," Elkind said. "I began getting involved with the American Heart Association through him, and he later introduced me to Bert Scott.

"We went to dinner with Bert, and I remember absolutely falling for this guy who was so passionate about the American Heart Association, about stroke and about building careers."

Scott's passion was personal. His wife died of a stroke in 2001, and he created the Kathleen Scott Research Fellowship at the association in her memory. Elkind would become the first fellowship recipient, using the grant to fund his exploration of the role that inflammatory markers play in stroke risk as part of the landmark Northern Manhattan Study.

"That fellowship helped launch my research career and made me a lifelong volunteer of the American Heart Association," he said.

Elkind went on to serve on the association's New York City board, then the Founders Affiliate board, followed by eight years on the national board. During two terms as chairperson of the American Stroke Association (ASA) Advisory Committee, he exponentially increased the ASA's reach and resources. This included leading the development of the AHA/ASA Scientific Statement on "The Evidence for Inclusion of Stroke as an Outcome and Risk Equivalent in Vascular Disease Risk Score." He also launched stroke simulation resources for health care professionals and heightened the focus on recurrent stroke prevention through the "One Is Enough" campaign.

For his lifetime of transformative contributions, including his service as president, Elkind is a 2025 recipient of the Gold Heart Award, the American Heart Association's highest volunteer honor. He will be recognized at the organization's National Volunteer Awards ceremony in Plano, Texas, on June 17.

When he took office as president in July 2020, Elkind sought to build a stronger bridge between brain and heart health. But the pandemic scuttled those plans, thrusting him into the limelight as a leader in the association's COVID-19 response, building on the progress made by his predecessor, Dr. Robert Harrington, and working alongside Scott as chairperson of the board.

"The pandemic was just a few months underway, and we had to pivot to handle it in terms of its impact on health and also its impact on the organization," he said. "There was initial concern of a disconnect because COVID-19 was an infectious disease, and the association was not an infectious disease organization."

But for Elkind, the connection was clear.

"Even common infections like the flu can trigger an inflammatory response, leading to cardiovascular diseases and strokes — something I'd been studying for 20 years," he said.

Elkind shed light on how COVID-19 affects the heart and brain, took part in the awarding of rapid response grants, and championed the importance of doctor's visits and vaccination. He also served on the steering committee for the association's COVID-19 CVD Registry, a nationwide data repository established during Harrington's term. Powered by the association's Get With the Guidelines® platform, the registry helped researchers understand, track and develop treatments for the virus by accessing deidentified patient records at participating medical facilities.

"With his expertise and experience in neurology and epidemiology, Mitch was the right president at the right time," said Nancy Brown, CEO of the American Heart Association. "He raised awareness of the heart and brain impact of inflammation caused by COVID-19, which informed clinical practice guidelines and public education and, ultimately, saved lives."

As the pandemic evolved, Elkind's leadership continued to meet people where they were. He promoted the association's "Don't Die of Doubt" campaign emphasizing the importance of calling 911 in an emergency, and helped spur a return to routine health care through another public service effort, "Doctor, It's Been Too Long." With its call to "make an appointment," the latter campaign was displayed 39 million times across social media from March to June 2021 and coincided with a sharp decrease in the number of people delaying or avoiding doctor's visits due to fear of COVID exposure.

The American Heart Association continued building on its bedrock of science with donor support, establishing Strategically Focused Research Networks on health technologies and innovation, hemorrhagic stroke and disparities in cardio-oncology.

The association also awarded the first rounds of grant funding from Research Goes Red, its women's health registry and research platform designed to engage more women in clinical trials and accelerate understanding of how cardiovascular disease uniquely impacts women. These grants funded studies focused on heart disease in young women from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, and how menopausal weight changes affect cardiovascular health.

"We put our money where our mouth was, and that was a very gratifying part of that presidential year," Elkind said.

Motivated to continue making a difference after his impactful term as the association's volunteer president, Elkind joined the American Heart Association staff in 2022 as chief clinical science officer charged with helping guide and expand the organization's clinical research activities. He also served as staff liaison to the science teams of government agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration.

"I joined the American Heart Association because I wanted to build our brain health programming, and also because of my experience with clinical trials," he said.

With his role recently redefined as chief science officer for brain health and stroke, Elkind is tackling his pre-pandemic priorities and working to grow the association's brain health enterprise through science, business initiatives and programming, and advocacy.

He said the Gold Heart Award — an honor Bert Scott will receive as well — is not personal recognition, but "an endorsement of this idea that the brain and the heart are inextricably linked and what's good for one is good for the other."

He added, "I'm just delighted that I get the chance to do this together with Bert."