Dianna M. Milewicz, M.D. Ph.D., is the President George H.W. Bush Chair of Cardiovascular Medicine, Director of the Division of Medical Genetics and the John Ritter Research Program at McGovern Medical School, and Director of the joint MD-PhD Program between MD Anderson Cancer Center and at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), and recruits students from the University of Puerto Rico. Dr Milewicz’s career focuses on research to identify the genetic and molecular triggers for vascular diseases and mentoring the next generation of physician scientists. Her research has identified the altered genes triggering vascular diseases, with an initial and continued emphasis on thoracic aortic aneurysms and dissections, and more recently focus on moyamoya disease and early onset atherosclerosis. She has also sought to identify the molecular links between the defective genes and the resulting vascular diseases. She chairs two international research consortiums, the Montalcino Aortic Consortium to define precision medical care for genetic vascular diseases and a Leducq Network of Excellence to identify molecular triggers for acute aortic dissections. She was inducted into the honorary societies for physician scientists, the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians (AAP), and currently serves as an AAP Council member. Dr. Milewicz has worked to increase awareness of risk factors for acute aortic dissections, including participating and chairing boards for the American Heart Association, Canadian Genetic Aortic Disorder Association, the John Ritter Foundation, and the Marfan Foundation. She has received numerous honors for her research, mentorship and advocacy, including Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award, American Heart Association Merit Award, Rice University Distinguished Alumni Award, and the 2023 Advocacy Award from the American Society of Human Genetics, and will be receiving the 2024 Genomic and Precision Medicine Medal of Honor from the American Heart Association at the meeting in November.