Seminar and Lecture Series

Main Content

Nelson Cardiovascular Research Lecture

The Gertrude and Florian Nelson Cardiovascular Research Lecture was established with a gift from Gertrude Nelson of Vicksburg through the Mississippi affiliate of the American Heart Association, which co-sponsors the lecture with the Center for Excellence in Cardiovascular-Renal Research. Nelson and her late husband, Florian, were AHA volunteers.


Pictured from left to right: Dr. David Stec, Dr. Barry A. Borlaug holding a plaque in his honor, and Dr. Michael Hall.
Pictured from left to right: Dr. David Stec, Dr. Barry Borlaug, and Dr. Michael Hall.

Dr. Barry A. Borlaug, Professor of Medicine, Chair for Research, Division of Circulatory Failure, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota delivered the Florian and Gertrude Nelson lecture entitled, "How Times Change: It's Not Your Grandfather's (or Grandmother's) Heart Failure Anymore" on May 8th.

Dr. Borlaug is a world-renowned expert in the area of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). He has received numerous awards for his research including the Simon Dack Award from the American College of Cardiology, Best Paper of the Year (twice) from Circulation and Circulation Heart Failure, Mayo Clinic Transform the Practice Award, American Society for Clinical Investigation Award, and listed as the top 2% most-cited scientist in the area of heart failure in 2021.

Dr. Borlaug is very active and has leadership positions in several cardiac societies such as the American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, Heart Failure Society of America, and the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation. Dr. Borlaug has also served on the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institutes (NHLBI) Working Group on Research Priorities in HFpEF as well as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Working Group on Exercise in Heart Failure. Dr. Borlaug serves as an editor, guest editorĀ orĀ member of the editorial board of several of the leading journals in the area of heart failure including Circulation, Circulation Heart Failure, Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging, European Heart Journal, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, and Journal of Cardiac Failure.

Dr. Borlaug has a very strong record of mentoring have trained numerous cardiology fellows, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students. Dr. Borlaug has been the director of numerous clinical trials in the area of heart failure and holds 20 patents for the treatment of heart failure. His research has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 2006 and he has published over 360 manuscripts in leading journals in the area of heart failure.

The Florian and Gertrude Nelson lecture was established in the Cardiovascular-Renal Research Center in 1997 and has featured lectures by Nobel Laureate, and Distinguished Leader in the area of cardiovascular medicine and science.