Dr. Laurie Whitsel is a recognized leader in translating science and evidence into impactful public health policy. Currently the national vice president of policy research for the American Heart Association (AHA), she helps to translate science into impactful public policy at a national level in the areas of cardiovascular disease and stroke prevention and health promotion. In addition to leading the association’s policy research and translation efforts, she covers specific areas of policy development around prevention, including ending tobacco and nicotine addiction, health promotion, obesity, physical activity, and policy implementation and outcome evaluation. As the senior advisor to the Physical Activity Alliance, the nation’s broadest coalition dedicated to promoting physical activity for health, Dr. Whitsel helps to lead national policy and systems change to integrate physical activity assessment, prescription and referral into health care delivery and improve population health. She has served on the boards of several organizations including the American Council on Exercise, the Health Enhancement Research Organization (HERO) and other non-profit organizations, and on expert advisory groups with RAND; the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; the Bipartisan Policy Center; HERO; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Dr. Whitsel is an influential researcher in public health, cardiovascular health, and health promotion and has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. Under her leadership, the AHA policy team has published more than 60 policy statements, and these influential statements have been cited more than 15,000 times in other peer-reviewed publications and major policy documents. She presents at national conferences on prevention issues and evidence-based policy making. She serves as an expert peer reviewer for several scientific journals and is a consultant on research grant teams. She is a regular lecturer at Columbia University. In 2023, Dr. Whitsel was recognized as one of “The Most Influential Women Leaders in Health Promotion” and was also honored with the Mark Dundon Research Award by the Health Enhancement Research Organization. In 2024, she received the American College of Sports Medicine’s Exercise is Medicine Global Leadership Award.

Her PhD is from Syracuse University, and she is a Fellow and member of the AHA’s National Scientific Council on Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health.