MCPHS University announced this week that Elizabeth G. Nabel, MD, president of Harvard-affiliated Brigham Health--an academic health care system which includes Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, and the Brigham and Women’s Physician Organization--will address the University’s graduates at its Commencement ceremony at Gillette Stadium on May 5. Two thousand eighteen marks the fifth straight year the University has held its Commencement at the home of the New England Patriots. 
 
“MCPHS has a long-standing collaboration with Brigham and Women’s Hospital through a variety of health profession disciplines, and many of our students do their clinical experiences there,” MCPHS President Charles F. Monahan, Jr. said. “We also have fellows, residents, faculty members and more than 100 alumni working in various departments at the hospital. For these reasons and more, we are very excited to welcome Dr. Nabel as our Commencement speaker.”
 
A cardiologist and distinguished biomedical researcher, Nabel is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She brings a unique perspective to health care based on her experience as a physician, research scientist, academic medicine leader, and wellness advocate. At Brigham Health, Nabel is leading development of a new model of academic medicine devoted to maintaining and restoring health through leadership in scientific discovery, education, and compassionate care. Initiatives include a new translational research and clinical facility, leading-edge care redesign, and a $1.5 billion campaign to advance life-giving breakthroughs.

Nabel has a long record of advocacy for health and broadening access to care. As director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute from 2005-2009, Nabel leveraged the $3 billion research portfolio to establish pioneering scientific programs in genomics, stem cells, and translational research. An accomplished physician-scientist, Nabel’s work on the molecular genetics of cardiovascular diseases has produced 17 patents and more than 250 scientific publications. She has been named one of the nation’s top leaders in medicine by Modern Healthcare and Becker’s Hospital Review, and one of Boston’s 50 most powerful people by Boston Magazine. 
 
Her honors include the Distinguished Bostonian Award from the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, the Kober Medal from the Association of American Physicians, the Champion in Health Care award from the Boston Business Journal, the Willem Einthoven Award from Leiden University in the Netherlands, the Amgen-Scientific Achievement Award, two Distinguished Achievement Awards, and the Eugene Braunwald Academic Mentorship Award from the American Heart Association.
 
Her colleagues have elected her to the American Academy of the Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the Association of American Physicians, the American Society of Clinical Investigation, and she is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Nabel serves on the boards of Medtronic, Moderna Therapeutics, the Broad Institute, Ariadne Labs, the Boys & Girls Club of Boston, and the Medical Advisory Board of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.