Eugene Braunwald leaves an indelible imprint on our entire biomedical enterprise. He pioneered numerous areas of cardiology that have evolved into their own subspecialties, such that no individual will ever again be able to make ground-breaking contributions of such breadth1.

Dr Braunwald led three departments of medicine: at the University of California San Diego, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Beth Israel Hospital. Under his chairmanship, the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital evolved from a boutique into an academic and clinical powerhouse. He played a key role in joining the strengths of two Boston institutions into a single academic medical centre: Mass General Brigham.