Program Overview & History
The Dr. Carolyn McCue Award for Woman Cardiologist of the Year is a program of the VCU Health Pauley Heart Center, made possible by a grant from the McCue family. The award honors the late Carolyn Moore McCue, MD, who was a national pioneer in pediatric cardiology.
The award was established in 2008, granted again in 2009, and then resumed in the year 2022. Past recipients include: C. Noel Bairey Merz, MD (2008), Elizabeth G. Nabel, MD (2009), Sharonne N. Hayes, MD (2022), Annabelle Santos Volgman, MD (2023), Anne B. Curtis, MD (2024), and Michelle A. Albert, MD, MPH (2025). The award carries a monetary prize of $7500 and is presented at the Pauley Heart Center’s Heart Health in Women Symposium held in Richmond, Virginia, annually.
Dr. Carolyn McCue
1916-1999
Biography
2026
McCue Award Winner
Martha Gulati, MD, MS
We are thrilled to announce that the 2026 Dr. Carolyn McCue Award for Woman Cardiologist of the Year has been awarded to Martha Gulati, MD, MS. Dr. Gulati is the inaugural director of the Davis Women’s Heart Center at Houston Methodist Debakey Heart & Vascular Center in Houston, Texas. A preventive cardiologist, her research has utilized innovative approaches to understanding sex differences in cardiovascular disease, and her findings have fundamentally shifted the landscape of cardiovascular medicine and women’s heart health.
Dr. Gulati is the Immediate Past President of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology. Prior to her leadership of the Davis Women’s Heart Center, she was a professor of cardiology at the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles, where she served as the director of prevention, the associate director of the Barbra Streisand Women's Heart Center, and held the Anita Dann Friedman Endowed Chair in Women’s Cardiovascular Medicine and Research. She was formerly the inaugural Chief of Cardiology at the University of Arizona. She is the author of the bestselling book Saving Women’s Hearts. She served as the chair of the national chest pain guidelines from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology. She also served as editor-in-chief of CardioSmart, the patient education arm of the American College of Cardiology.
Dr. Gulati will be presented with the McCue Award at the 11th annual Pauley Heart Center Heart Health in Women Symposium, which will be held at the Science Museum of Virginia on February 21, 2026. Dr. Gulati will also serve as keynote speaker at the conference. To receive information and updates about the conference, please email Shannon Winston at shannon.winston@vcuhealth.org.
McCue Award
Criteria and Eligibility for Nomination
The McCue Award is given annually to a woman adult or pediatric cardiologist who is currently practicing in the United States or another country. The candidate must possess an MD, DO, or equivalent international medical degree and be 10 years or more post-med school. The candidate must have had an academic affiliation for the majority of her career. The candidate must be a woman cardiologist who is recognized nationally and/or internationally for important contributions to the general field of adult or pediatric cardiology through clinical care, research, teaching, and leadership in mentoring. While a candidate may not be outstanding in all of these skills, she must excel in one or more. Candidates may self-nominate or be nominated by a peer.
Nominations for the Dr. Carolyn McCue Award for Woman Cardiologist of the Year will be accepted between February 21, 2026 – April 24, 2026. Presentation of the Award and a monetary prize of $7500 will be made at the Heart Health in Women Symposium in Richmond on February 6, 2027. The awardee will also be asked to give a 25-minute scientific presentation at the Symposium.
Nominations for the Dr. Carolyn McCue Award for Woman Cardiologist of the Year are now open.
