Six Receive Association's Award of Meritorious A...( DALLAS April 30 -- The American ...),Health

DALLAS, April 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Heart Association presented six Awards of Meritorious Achievement yesterday at its 2008 "You're the Cure on the Hill" Awards Luncheon in Washington, D.C. The award recognizes individuals for specific, significant accomplishments or projects that affect the association nationally.

The recipients are:

-- Kenneth M. Baker, M.D., professor and vice-chair for research in the

Department of Medicine at the Texas A&M Health Science Center in

Temple, Texas, for his leadership in the development of the

association's strategic plan for 2006-16.

-- Lance Becker, M.D., professor of emergency medicine at the University of

Pennsylvania Center for Resuscitation Science in Philadelphia, and

Graham Nichol, M.D., M.P.H., professor of medicine and director of the

Harborview Center for Prehospital Emergency Care at the University of

Washington in Seattle, for their work as founders of the

association's Resuscitation Science Symposium.

-- Ralph Szygenda, group vice president and chief information officer for

General Motors Corporation World Headquarters in Detroit, Mich., and his

wife Shelby, for their leadership of association "Heart Gala"

fund-raising events.

-- John E. Warfel, president of the Westfield Financial Corporation in

Westfield Center, Ohio, for his leadership in strengthening the

association's audit function.

About the American Heart Association

Founded in 1924, the American Heart Association today is the nation's oldest and largest voluntary health organization dedicated to building healthier lives, free of heart diseases and stroke. These diseases, America's No. 1 and No. 3 killers, and all other cardiovascular diseases, claim nearly 870,000 lives a year. In fiscal year 2006-07, the association invested more than $554
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