Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Chief of Cardiology Receives National American College of Cardiology Distinguished[...]

(New Brunswick, NJ) - Partho Sengupta, MD, DM, FACC, FASE, has been honored as a 2026 Distinguished Scientist (Translational Domain) at the national American College of Cardiology (ACC) Conference in New Orleans. Dr. Sengupta is Chief of Cardiology at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) and Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS). RWJUH is an RWJBarnabas Health facility.

The 2026 ACC Distinguished Awards honorees represent an exceptional group of individuals whose past and ongoing efforts have made meaningful contributions to advancing the ACC's vision of "a world where science, knowledge and innovation improve cardiovascular care and patient outcomes worldwide."

"I am honored to recognize Partho P., Sengupta, MD, FACC, with the Distinguished Scientist Award-Translational Domain," said ACC President Christopher M. Kramer, MD, FACC. "Dr. Sengupta has demonstrated remarkable work that will bolster the ACC's mission to transform cardiovascular care and improve heart health for all."

The Distinguished Scientist Award-Translational Domain is awarded to a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology who has made major scientific contributions to the advancement of scientific knowledge in the field of cardiovascular disease. The award is given to three recipients; one in each the basic, clinical and translational domains.

An internationally recognized leader in cardiac imaging, digital health, and artificial intelligence, Dr. Sengupta has authored more than 330 peer-reviewed publications (H-index: 72). His research focuses on advanced ultrasound imaging, AI-enabled diagnostics, robotics, and wearable technologies. He has directed multidisciplinary teams to pioneer mobile health and point-of-care ultrasound programs, including landmark ASE Foundation initiatives such as ASE-REWARDS, ASE-VISION-in-Tele-Echo, and ASEF-VALUES, which advanced community outreach, digital platforms, and global learning in echocardiography.

Dr. Sengupta has also made milestone contributions to imaging informatics. He reported one of the earliest applications of machine learning in echocardiography (2013) and more recently led the development of the PRIME checklist, now adopted by the ACC and JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging as the standard framework for evaluating artificial intelligence in cardiovascular imaging.

"We're incredibly proud that Dr. Sengupta has received this prestigious honor from the American College of Cardiology," says Alan Lee, President, RWJUH. "It is even more meaningful that he earned this award in the Translational Research Domain. Since his arrival at RWJUH, Dr. Sengupta has been dedicated to applying his vast body of research to achieve real-world solutions that will help clinicians intervene earlier to identify and address potentially serious heart diseases in at-risk individuals."

"This is a wonderful achievement for Dr. Sengupta and his research team at RWJUH. Such high quality research gives us a tremendous opportunity as a health system to leverage the breadth of our Heart & Vascular network of care programs to gather important data, as well as effecting change in practices that have the potential to significantly improve cardiac care in the future," notes Conor Barrett, MD, MBA, Senior Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer for Heart and Vascular Services for RWJBarnabas Health. "Such research endeavors align perfectly with our mission as an academic health system to be a regional and national leader in research and innovation."

At RWJUH, Dr. Sengupta and his team established the Center for Innovation. The Center for Innovation is a partnership between RWJUH and RWJMS that brings together clinicians, researchers and private industry to invent and develop new technologies that address both complex and common healthcare issues. The ultimate goal is to develop innovative clinical trials that yield medical breakthroughs to improve preventive care and health outcomes for patients.

Also, under Dr. Sengupta's leadership, RWJUH and RWJMS were awarded a $2.4 million grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to develop new technology to better manage patients presenting with heart attacks. According to Dr. Sengupta, who is principal investigator for the four-year study, scores that can predict the risk of a future cardiac event in patients presenting with heart attack were developed nearly two decades ago and do not include current imaging technology in their calculations. Dr. Sengupta and his team believe that data gathered from this study will help clinicians and hospitals develop high-precision decision support tools for early identification and referral of high-risk patients with heart disease for individualized care at centers of excellence in heart and vascular care.

"Dr. Sengupta has a unique vision that drives his research," says Amy P. Murtha, MD, Dean of RWJMS. "The discoveries that he and his team make today on our campus will one day give clinicians the diagnostic data and tools they need to address many heart diseases in their early stages. The hope is that his work will not only help at-risk individuals enjoy a better of quality of life but possibly avoid serious heart-related issues altogether."

About Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH), an RWJBarnabas Health Facility, is a 724-bed academic medical center in New Brunswick that is New Jersey's largest academic medical center through its deep partnership with Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Rutgers Cancer Institute. RWJUH is home to the Jack & Sheryl Morris Cancer Center and The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children's Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, a nationally ranked 2025-26 Best Children's Hospital by U.S. News & World Report. RWJUH is recognized by U.S. News & World Report as a Best Regional Hospital for 2025-2026 with 19 High Performing Adult Specialties and Conditions. Centers of Excellence include heart and vascular care from minimally invasive heart surgery to transplantation, cancer care, stroke care, neuroscience, orthopedics, pediatrics and women's health. As one

of only three state-certified Level 1 Trauma Centers and the first designated Pediatric Trauma Center in the New Jersey, RWJUH's campus serves as a national resource in its ground-breaking approaches to emergency preparedness.

For more Information visit us online at https://www.rwjbh.org/newbrunswick

Contact: Peter Haigney
RWJUH Public Relations
(732) 937-8568