For Mercedes Carnethon, PhD, preventing cardiovascular and metabolic diseases and living a healthy lifestyle go hand in hand. The esteemed epidemiologist and newly minted chair of Preventive Medicine, Carnethon has focused her research and career on the epidemiology of cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, lung health, and cognitive aging in population subgroups that often face a disproportionate burden of disease because of social adversity. In her research, Carnethon, the Mary Harris Thompson Professor of Preventive Medicine, examines the significance of behavioral, social, and biological factors on chronic diseases in the U.S. and around the world. She and her collaborators have described the burden of these conditions in population subgroups defined by race, ethnicity, geography, sexual orientation and gender identity, and socioeconomic position. Her work also demonstrates how positive health and lifestyle behaviors — including diet, sleep, and physical activity — can prevent the onset of disease and promote healthy lifestyles.

Carnethon has always had an affinity for health. The former high school and university track-and-field star took an interest in public health while studying at Stanford University. While juggling academics and track and field, she realized personally how much a good night’s sleep helped to fuel her in the classroom and on the track. She chose to study human biology because of its dual focus on biology and the environment. Understanding that humans are more than just their cells and their genes sparked Carnethon’s interest in public health. After receiving her master’s degree and PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Carnethon returned to Stanford in 2002 to complete a postdoctoral fellowship in cardiovascular epidemiology and prevention. From there, she joined the faculty of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, where she quickly became known for her research leadership and collaboration.

Even in the early stages of her career, serving as a mentor to others was a priority. While building her research program, Carnethon sought opportunities to contribute to and eventually lead postdoctoral training and faculty development. Over time, she emerged as a triple threat, excelling in population science, education, and faculty development and mentoring. This helped propel her career forward at Feinberg as she moved into the role of vice chair of the department, and, after serving in this capacity for 10 years, being appointed the Mary Harris Thompson Professor and chair of Preventive Medicine.

“As a chair, I hope to emulate the strengths of the leaders who came before me by treating the faculty, staff, and trainees in my department as highly valued colleagues whose individual interests and priorities I will nurture while also harnessing our shared goal of preventing disease and promoting health,” Carnethon said. “The talents and strengths of the people I work with here at the Feinberg School of Medicine are incredible and diversified — an embarrassment of riches. Like any coach who recruits a team full of five-star athletes, it is a privilege to lead the members of our team toward a shared goal of meeting the complex challenges in public health.”

She is active in a variety of professional societies and has served as board chair for the Chicago Metropolitan Board of the American Heart Association (AHA) between 2022 and 2024, and as the current chair of the Council on Epidemiology and Prevention (EPI). Since 2021, she has been a member of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Board of Scientific Counselors and is an associate editor of the AHA journal Circulation. She has authored or co-authored more than 395 peer-reviewed scientific publications in leading scientific journals including Circulation, JAMA, JAMA Cardiology, Diabetes Care, and Lancet Public Health. Carnethon also serves as the principal investigator or multiple principal investigator of numerous National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants and her research has been disseminated widely through national and international media outlets. She is a fellow of the American Heart Association, and in 2023, she received the prestigious Paula H. Stern Award for Outstanding Women in Science and Medicine from the Northwestern Medical Women Faculty Organization.

As a chair, I hope to emulate the strengths of the leaders who came before me by treating the faculty, staff, and trainees in my department as highly valued colleagues whose individual interests and priorities I will nurture while also harnessing our shared goal of preventing disease and promoting health.

Mercedes Carnethon, PhD

With decades of experience, numerous publications in high-impact journals, and copious accolades, it was only natural that Carnethon ascend to a new stage in her career, and in September 2024, she did just that with an appointment to the position of chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine. In her new role she aims to continue research, mentoring, and faculty development, but on a larger scale.

A HALF CENTURY OF PREVENTIVE MEDICINE

In her new role, Carnethon leads a remarkable department that celebrated its 50^th anniversary in 2022, marking a half-century of significant contributions to disease prevention across the lifespan concentrating in nutrition, biomedical informatics, public health, behavioral medicine, biostatistics, epidemiology, and cancer prevention. For the past several years, the department has consistently ranked No. 1 in NIH funding.

Formerly known as the Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine, the Department of Preventive Medicine was founded in 1972 and was headed by Jeremiah Stamler, MD, known as the father of preventive cardiology. During the early years of the department, Stamler and his team completed seminal studies that helped create the fields of cardiovascular epidemiology and prevention and defined key causal risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including smoking, physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, obesity, elevated cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood glucose.

Starting off as a small group of 10, the department now includes seven divisions comprising 285 faculty and staff. Prior to its creation, the department’s faculty was involved in some of the first significant studies that helped form the field of cardiovascular epidemiology and identified the major risk factors for cardiovascular disease and mortality, including the Chicago People’s Gas Company (PG) study in the late 1950s, the Chicago Western Electric Company study (WE) in 1957, and the Chicago Heart Association Detection Project in Industry (CHA), which screened from 1967 to 1973. In the 1970s, the department played a key role in the national cooperative Pooling Project, which pooled data from five prospective epidemiological studies, including PG and WE, and allowed for greater precision when estimating the associations of the major risk factors with cardiovascular disease. Carnethon will be only the fifth chair since the department’s inception.

“I am absolutely delighted that Mercedes, a tremendously talented scientist and fabulous mentor and collaborative leader, will lead the department into its next phase,” said Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, MD, ScM, former chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine. “She is the kind of person, the kind of leader, who makes her collaborators and her fellow faculty members better because of her deep knowledge about the science of population health and about recruiting cohorts of diverse individuals. She is an exemplar at developing and mentoring young investigators. And she has the character to be a dynamic, fun, thoughtful, and visionary leader of this large department. Feinberg’s decades-long legacy of international leadership in the field of preventive medicine is in great hands.”

OFF AND RUNNING AT FULL SPEED

From her days running with a track-and-field relay team to her role coaching youth sports, Carnethon is no stranger to working toward a goal using all team members in a collaborative effort. This skill will prove useful in her position as chair as she and the faculty of the Department of Preventive Medicine move into a new era of preventing disease. And, as she plans for the future, there are many new areas that she intends to cover, including the contributions that social drivers of health — such as occupation, income, culture, and geography — have on diseases; the impact of large data in tracking rare diseases; and the roles of substance abuse and misuse and mental health — particularly adolescent mental health — in chronic disease. She also aspires to introduce new technologies that will help improve population health and behavior by bringing computer scientists on staff.

“Our department has an international reputation in the field of cardiovascular research, owing to our early days and years of leadership by cardiologists,” Carnethon said. “Over time, we have expanded our expertise to include study of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide, including cancer, lung disease, and mental illness. However, there are other important areas where we have room to grow, including substance use and abuse, and the role the environment plays in health. A considerable strength of our department is our role as the hub for biostatistics and informatics within the medical school. Our data scientists support our research and research that is taking place throughout the medical school. We are well positioned to be leaders in the broader mission of the Feinberg School of Medicine.”

Growing in her career at Feinberg from scholar to mentor to leader, Carnethon is set to continue the trajectory of the Department of Preventive Medicine and catapult the department into the next phase of disease prevention, cardiovascular health, and overall public health.

“It is such an honor to have the opportunity to give back to an institution that has supported me throughout my entire career,” Carnethon said. “I look forward to the impact our department will have on our institution and on the field.”