Washington U. med school honors Smith-Cotton alum

A 1979 Smith-Cotton High School graduate has been named Alumni Endowed Professor in Cardiovascular Diseases at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Dr. Alan C. Braverman, M.D., a Washington University cardiologist at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, is the latest to receive the honor at the university.

According to Washington University, the Alumni Endowed Professorship program was established by the Washington University Medical Center Alumni Association during the 1977-78 academic year to attract and retain top-notch members of the faculty.

Alumni Association leaders set a goal of eventually creating one Alumni Endowed Professorship in each department at the School of Medicine. The professorships are funded through a program of annual giving, in which unrestricted gifts from medical alumni and former house staff members are combined with gifts made directly to the program.
Each time the fund reaches a level to endow a professorship, which is currently $1.5 million, a new Alumni Endowed Professorship is established.

Braverman graduated as valedictorian of his high school class and was captain of the swim and golf teams. He also was a varsity letter winner on the soccer team and active in instrumental music and drama.

He was admitted directly into the accelerated six-year medical program at the University of Missouri-Kansas City after graduation.

Braverman joined the Washington University School of Medicine faculty in 1991, after completing postgraduate research and clinical training at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, according to cardiology.wustl.edu.

He is a professor of medicine in the cardiovascular division at the school of medicine and director of the Marfan Syndrome and Genetically Triggered Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm Clinic. He also is director of the inpatient cardiology service at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

Braverman is a nationally known authority on genetically triggered aortic diseases including Marfan syndrome, Loeys-Dietz an-eurysm syndrome, thoracic aortic aneurysms and dissections and bicuspid aortic valve disease, according to Braverman’s staff biography.

Braverman was honored with the Hugh D. McCullouch Award by the American Heart Association in 2009 and has been teacher of the year on four occasions.