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Dr. Mitchell Elkind is the American Heart Association’s Chief Clinical Science Officer and serves as the senior staff science leader for all Association initiatives related to stroke, brain health and new integrated efforts including cardio-renal-metabolic health. Previously, he was president of the American Heart Association for 2020-21, a tenured Professor of Neurology and Epidemiology and Chief of the Division of Neurology Clinical Outcomes Research and Population Sciences in the Neurology Department at Columbia University.

As Chief Clinical Science Officer, Dr. Elkind’s trusted voice, collaborative approach, and extensive clinical knowledge and experience are instrumental to ensuring the Association’s next generation research efforts are patient-centered, highly participatory and inclusive of all populations.

Dr Elkind’s research focuses on stroke prevention, inflammatory and infectious biomarkers in stroke risk prediction, atrial cardiopathy, immune therapy for acute stroke, and vascular causes of cognitive aging. He is a principal investigator of federally-funded studies examining atrial cardiopathy in cryptogenic stroke; stroke risk factors; short-term high-dose statin therapy in acute stroke; and inflammation in stroke treatment.

Dr. Elkind has a longstanding commitment to medical education and research training. In addition to leading the Columbia Neurology residency and fellowship programs, he served as editor of the AHA/ASA Stroke journal’s International Stroke Early Career and Training Section. He also runs National Institutes of Health-funded research training programs for residents and fellows.

As a long-time AHA volunteer, Dr. Elkind has served on numerous leadership committees, including three terms on the National Board of Directors, two terms as chairperson of the ASA Advisory Committee (2016-20), and is a past chairperson of the Science Advisory and Coordinating Committee (2020-21), Manuscript Oversight Committee, Awards Subcommittee, and a past co-chair of the Governance Committee (2021-22). Dr. Elkind has served on numerous writing committees for guidelines and scientific statements including co-chairing the writing committee for the 2012 scientific statement on the inclusion of stroke as an outcome and risk equivalent in vascular disease risk scores.

In 2021, Dr. Elkind was honored with the Association’s Distinguished National Leadership Award for his significant contributions to the mission, especially in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic.