The American Heart Association will honor Annet Kirabo, D.V.M., Ph.D., FAHA, with the 2026 Joseph A. Vita Award at its Scientific Sessions 2026, to be held Nov. 6-9 in Chicago. Kirabo, a professor of medicine in the division of genetic medicine and clinical pharmacology at Vanderbilt Health, will receive the award during the Opening Session on Saturday, Nov. 7. The award recognizes a scientist whose research has significantly advanced cardiovascular biology or health within the past five years and whose work has been published in the Association’s journals.
Kirabo’s discoveries have redefined the role of immune activation and inflammation in hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Her research demonstrated that lipid oxidation-derived protein adducts act as neoantigens that trigger antigen-presenting cell activation, T-cell responses, vascular dysfunction and hypertension. This fundamentally changed scientific understanding of how the immune system contributes to blood pressure regulation. Her laboratory now combines immunology, vascular biology, genomics, metabolomics and single-cell technologies to identify new therapeutic strategies for cardiovascular and kidney disease, including targeting reactive lipid molecules called isolevuglandins and sodium-sensing pathways in immune cells.
Manesh R. Patel, M.D., FAHA, the American Heart Association’s 2026-2027 volunteer president, said Kirabo exemplifies the spirit of the award. “Her pioneering discoveries represent a paradigm shift in cardiovascular biology, reshaping our understanding of hypertension by revealing how immune activation and inflammation drive cardiovascular disease,” Patel said. “Through innovative, multidisciplinary research, she has uncovered potential therapeutic targets… that have opened exciting possibilities for preventing and treating hypertension and related cardiovascular and kidney diseases.”
The award is named after the late Joseph A. Vita, M.D., founding editor of the Heart Association’s open-access, peer-reviewed Journal of the American Heart Association. Recipients are selected by the editors-in-chief of the Association’s 14 peer-reviewed scientific journals. Kirabo has published more than 230 scientific papers, holds sustained National Institutes of Health funding, and has served on the editorial board of the Hypertension journal since 2018 and as an associate editor of Circulation Research since 2019.
Beyond her research, Kirabo has been an active Heart Association volunteer since 2009, serving on the Council on Hypertension Communications Committee, including as chair from 2022 to 2024, and reviewing research proposals since 2017. She earned her doctor of veterinary medicine degree with honors from Makerere University in Uganda, a master’s in cell and molecular biology from St. Cloud State University, and a doctorate in physiology and functional genomics from the University of Florida. She completed postdoctoral training at Vanderbilt, where she now leads an internationally recognized program and mentors dozens of early-career scientists.
“I am deeply honored to receive the Joseph A. Vita Award from the American Heart Association, an organization that has supported my career from my predoctoral and postdoctoral fellowships through my development as an independent investigator,” Kirabo said. “Scientific discovery, mentorship and advancing new treatments for cardiovascular disease have been the primary focus of my career, and it is both rewarding and humbling to be recognized for it.”
The recognition underscores the growing understanding of hypertension as an immune-mediated condition, a shift that could lead to novel therapies for a disease affecting millions worldwide. Additional multimedia is available on the release link, and more information about the American Heart Association can be found at heart.org.
