Margo B. Minissian, PhD, ACNP, NEA-BC, FAHA, FNLA is the Executive Director, Brawerman Institute, Nursing Education, Innovation, Performance Improvement, and Research. She is a Faculty Research Scientist, Assistant Professor of Cardiology at the Smidt Heart Institute and the Simms/ Mann Endowed Chair of Nursing Education, Innovation and Research. She holds a joint Faculty appointment in the Geri and Richard Brawerman Nursing Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. She holds National Board Certifications as a Nurse Executive- Advanced and as an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner from the American Nurses Credentialing Center. She is also Nationally board certified as a Clinical Lipid Specialist from the Accreditation Council for Clinical Lipidology.
Dr. Minissian and her nursing resuscitation (CPR team) partnered with the Simulation center and utilized a “train the trainer model” to teach senior staff assistants (SAAs) the American Red Cross quantified check out process including the chest compression return demonstration and have become American Red Cross Instructors.
As a prevention scientist, Dr. Minissian has a strong interest in protecting healthcare workers during the Covid-19 pandemic. Most recently, her team of co-investigators are enrolling registered nurses (RNs) in the study, “The Coronavirus Risk Associations and Longitudinal Evaluation- Nurses Surveillance Study (CORALE-NS)” which will systematically address the overarching hypothesis that pre-clinical increases in inflammatory proteins in RNs working under repeated exposure to Covid-19 positive patients, place these workers at increased risk for severe disease prior to them testing positive for Covid-19.
Dr. Minissian is the Director of the Postpartum Heart Health Program, Registry and Biorepository which has been designed to help identify, risk stratify and treat women who experience adverse pregnancy outcomes. Her National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded study, “Is Spontaneous Preterm Delivery Associated with Clustering of Maternal Cardiovascular Risk MarkErs and Impaired Vascular Function? The SPACE Study” received many awards including the American Heart Association Western States Affiliate Summer 2014 Pre-doctoral Fellowship, an NIH_NRSA Predoctoral award, and the American Nurses Foundation Nurse Scholar Fellowship. Dr. Minissian also competed in the American College of Cardiology Young Investigator Award as the first PhD nurse and was 1st runner up with her Preterm Delivery work in the Clinical Cardiology Competition. In 2019, Dr. Minissian was funded the prestigious K99R00 NIH award titled, “Is Spontaneous Preterm Delivery and Preeclampsia Associated with Vascular or Cardiac Dysfunction” to continue her work in adverse pregnancy outcomes and future cardiovascular disease risk in women. She is currently conducting this 5-year study to evaluate vascular and cardiac function in women who experience an adverse pregnancy outcome.
Dr. Minissian completed her biological research PhD at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Nursing, was a UCLA Dean’s Scholar Fellow and a UCLA Regents Scholar. She is published in 40 peer reviewed journals including the Journal of Women's Health, the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and Circulation. Dr. Minissian has a passion for education and has contributed towards the design of national educational programs and has spoken at many professional organizations nation-wide discussing the epidemic of women and heart disease, adverse pregnancy outcomes and dyslipidemia complicated by statin myalgias. In addition, Dr. Minissian was co-author of the 2017 Focused Update of the 2016 American College of Cardiology (ACC) Expert Consensus Decision Pathway on the Role of Non-Statin Therapies for LDL-Cholesterol Lowering in the Management of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk and the ACC/ AHA Secondary Prevention Guidelines in which she chaired the smoking cessation section. Dr. Minissian was a member of the ACC scientific planning steering committee from 2014-2018.
As a passionate patient advocate, Dr. Minissian was the first nurse to receive the Outstanding Advocate of the Year by the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the Coalition to Reduce Racial & Ethnic Disparities in CV Outcomes (CREDO) Award. She was the National Chair for nurses, physician assistants and pharmacists for 7 years as the Chair of the Cardiovascular Team Council for the ACC, in which she was an important nursing voice on Capitol Hill. For her years of service to the ACC, Dr. Minissian was presented with the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Distinguished Associate Award, which is the highest honor a scientist/nurse can receive.
