Dr. Vaccarino is the Professor and Chair, in the Department of Epidemiology at Rollins School of Public Health, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Medicine’s Division of Cardiology at the Emory University School of Medicine. She received her MD degree from the University of Milan, Italy, in 1984, and her PhD degree in epidemiology from Yale University in 1994. Between 1995 and 2000, she was on the faculty at the Yale University School of Medicine, and in 2000, she joined the faculty of the Emory University School of Medicine. In 2010, Dr. Vaccarino was appointed the Rollins Professor and Chair of the Department of Epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health. In 2013, she was awarded the Wilton Looney Chair in Cardiovascular Research.

Dr. Vaccarino’s research interests are in cardiovascular epidemiology and prevention, in particular the study of social and behavioral determinants of cardiovascular disease and women’s health. A focus of her research is the role of emotional factors, psychological stress, and psychiatric morbidity on cardiovascular risk and the interplay between psychological and biological factors on cardiovascular disease. Dr. Vaccarino has published over 270 research publications and has an extensive record of research funding from the National Institutes of Health. She is a Fellow of the American Heart Association, elected member of the American Epidemiological Society and of the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research, Established Investigator awardee from the American Heart Association, and serves in many professional organizations and committees at the national and international level.