Dr Navin Nanda, an internationally renowned cardiologist and echocardiographer who teaches at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, has been elected president-elect of the Society of Geriatric Cardiology, thus becoming the first Indian American to hold the post.
Dr Nanda, a professor of medicine and director of the Heart Station and Echocardiography Laboratories, will become the Society's president next year.
The Society aims to reduce the burden and improve the care of older people with cardiovascular disease. The Society has been a leading force in promoting improved care for older adults with cardiovascular diseases for over 20 years.
That is just one of the many ways Dr Nanda has been recognised this year. He was declared the 2007 winner of the Andreas Gruntzig Award by the Swiss Society of Cardiology in Geneva.
The American Association of Cardiologists of Indian Origin, at its annual meeting in New Orleans, presented him with a special award 'in recognition for his contributions to the Indian and other ethnic populations in the USA.'
The Cardiological Society of India, at its 57th annual conference in Mumbai, instituted a Navin C Nanda Young Investigator Award in his honor. This is the first time in the 58-year history of the CSI that an award has been instituted in the name of an individual physician.
The CSI said the award would be given annually to a young cardiologist who presents the best scientific research during a calendar year.
"I feel really proud and at the same time humbled on my election as president-elect of the society of Geriatric Cardiology, and more so because, as far as I can tell, this is the first time in the history of the Society that a person of Indian origin has been elected to this prestigious post," Dr Nanda told India Abroad, the newspaper that rediff.com owns in the United States.
"I will do my best to make sure that quality medical care will be provided to older adults who are faced with cardiovascular diseases," he said.
He said he was also elated to win the Andreas Gruntzig Award "because, once again, this is a first for an Indian American, and to be recognized for contributions in the field of cardiology from the highly respected Swiss Society of Cardiology is indeed an honor."
He said he felt doubly honored by the recognition from India. He said it made him very proud, particularly because he believed it would stimulate research by young Indian cardiologists and ultimately help address the rising incidences of heart disease in India.
The honors come barely six months after Dr Nanda was awarded a special plaque by Mayor of Rome Maria Pia Gavavaglia, which states that 'Dr Navin Nanda is from today not only a Teacher of Echocardiography but also a citizen of Rome.'
The award was presented to Dr Nanda during the opening ceremony of the 10th World Congress of Echocardiography and Cardiovascular Imaging held in Rome, organized by the Italian Society of Cardiology and the International Society of Cardiovascular Ultrasound.
Professor Francesco Fedele of the University of Studies, Rome, was the president of the Congress, while Nanda was the international president, at the convention attended by over 500 leading cardiologists and 215 faculty from over 30 countries around the world.
Just a week before receiving the award from the mayor, Nanda collected the John Foerster Distinguished Lecture Award 'for lifetime contributions in cardiovascular medicine,' from the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, St Boniface General Hospital Research Center of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg.
The awards come less than a year after he was awarded the 2006 Ellis Island Medal of Honor -- which recognises outstanding American citizens who have distinguished themselves by significant contributions to the US -- and presented with the Medal in a ceremony beside the Statue of Liberty in the historic Great Hall of Ellis Island in New York, May 13, 2006.
A former president of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin and the editor-in-chief of the Echocardiography Journal, Dr Nanda was also the founding president of the American Association of Cardiologists of Indian Origin, and the founder and president of the International Society of Cardiovascular Ultrasound.
He catalyzed the growth of echocardiography into becoming the most useful and cost-effective noninvasive technique available to diagnose various cardiac diseases.
The echocardiographic technique uses high frequency sound waves -- ultrasound -- to project pictures of lesions and other defects in the heart onto a screen.
Dr Nanda was the first recipient of AAPI's Most Distinguished Service Award.
Dr Nanda was the first non-African American to be elected to the board of directors of the Association of Black Cardiologists where he served two consecutive three-year terms.
At the time he was co-chair of the association's international relations committee and both the cultural competency and cultural enrichment committees. For his outstanding services, he was presented with the Bridge Award for 'building bridges across cultures, particularly among African American and Indian cardiologists.'
He has received honors from groups as diverse as the Chinese Society of Ultrasound Medicine, the Brazilian Society of Cardiology, the Italian Society of Echocardiography and theUruguayan Society of Cardiology for his pioneering work. He has been cited in the list of Best Doctors in America consistently since 1994, when the list was first published.
© 2026