Andrea Z. Beaton, MD

Biography

Dr. Beaton is a pediatric cardiologist with expertise in rheumatic heart disease. During her pediatric training, she was selected for the global health fellowship at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. After an early project in rare tropical cardiomyopathy, she began her pediatric cardiology fellowship training at Children’s National Medical Center. Since, she has led diverse teams in multiple successful international collaborations. Her early work through the KL2 scholar program focused on improving early detection of rheumatic heart disease through echocardiographic screening. This work was recognized by the American Heart Association as one of the 2012 top ten research advances in cardiovascular disease and stroke, featured in Nature Reviews Cardiology, and published in Circulation. This project also catalyzed her successful application as a principal investigator for the an American Heart Association Strategically Focused Research Network, “Strengthening the Health System Response to Rheumatic Heart Disease.” In this project, Dr. Beaton and her team are working to characterize rheumatic fever in an RHD-endemic setting (Uganda), to understand why rheumatic fever rarely comes to clinical attention, and to develop a biological test for rheumatic fever. Dr. Beaton’s work has been recognized nationally and internationally, and she has presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, the Pan-African Cardiology Congress, the World Cardiology Congress, and the World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery. She has published over 50 peer reviewed publications on RHD, and serves at the chair of the Rheumatic Fever, Endocarditis, and Kawasaki Disease Committee (RFEKD) of the American Heart Association, and as a member of the American Heart Association’s International Committee.