Dr. Charles Hennekens

Charles H. Hennekens, MD, is perhaps most widely known for being the first to discover that aspirin prevents a first heart attack, while he was the first John Snow Professor of Medicine and first Eugene Braunwald Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. His research, however, includes other seminal discoveries concerning aspirin as well as statins, angiotensin converting, enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, and beta-adrenergic blockers, all drugs of lifesaving benefit. Dr. Hennekens was also the first to discover that aspirin decreases the death rate when given during a heart attack and following a heart attack or occlusive stroke.

As the first Sir Richard Doll Research Professor in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, FL, where he lives, Dr. Hennekens is currently exploring aspirin's potential role in hindering the buildup of the plaque on the walls of arteries that leads to heart attacks and most strokes. He has already discovered that aspirin has beneficial effects on production of nitric oxide and is proposing new research looking at longer term effects on atherosclerosis.

Dr. Hennekens was one of only 6 individuals awarded the Senior International Aspirin Award and was selected to be one of the distinguished scientists who presented the first bottle of aspirin manufactured in 1897 to the Smithsonian Institute. Dr. Hennekens was aptly quoted in Reader's Digest when he stated that aspirin was the wonder drug of the 20th century and may turn out to be the wonder drug of the 21st century.

The many discoveries of Dr. Charles Hennekens have led Science Heroes to rank him #81 in the history of the world for having saved 1.1 million lives. He earned his BS from Queens College, Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude and his MD from Cornell University Medical College as well as MPH, MS, and DrPH in epidemiology from Harvard School of Public Health. He also served 2 years as Lieutenant Commander in the US Public Health Service as Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer with the Centers for Disease Control and was assigned to the Dade County Department of Public Health in Miami, FL.