Dan “Amanda” Tong, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Molecular Biology, has been selected to receive the 2026 Jack Sarver Prize in Basic Science from the American Heart Association (AHA). The award recognizes early- and midcareer independent cardiovascular researchers whose work exemplifies scientific excellence and advances the AHA’s mission to improve cardiovascular health. It will be presented in November at the AHA Scientific Sessions in Chicago and includes an engraved plaque, a $3,500 honorarium, and $25,000 to further Dr. Tong’s research.

“Our team seeks to understand how metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes contribute to cardiovascular conditions like heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and atrial fibrillation (AF),” said Dr. Tong, who is also a member of the Hamon Center for Regenerative Science and Medicine. “Receiving the Jack Sarver Prize is a tremendous honor and an affirmation of our lab’s efforts to uncover the biological mechanisms driving these diseases so we can develop more effective, individualized approaches to patient care.”

Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide, and metabolic disorders are among its most significant risk factors. The Tong Lab in the Harry S. Moss Heart Center focuses on cardiovascular conditions closely linked to metabolic disease, particularly HFpEF and AF. Dr. Tong’s team studies the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying these conditions with the goal of translating those discoveries into new approaches for patient care.

“As a physician-scientist, I am motivated by the questions that arise from caring for patients whose cardiovascular disease is closely linked to underlying metabolic disorders,” she said. “Our team combines basic science and clinical insight to investigate the pathways that lead to heart disease, with the goal of translating those discoveries into strategies that improve outcomes for patients.”

Earlier this year, Dr. Tong received a five-year, $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study how a stretch-sensing protein in the heart may contribute to AF in patients with heart failure.

After earning her medical degree from the Tongji Medical College in China and her doctorate from the University of Western Ontario in Canada, Dr. Tong completed internal medicine residency training at the University of Iowa, followed by advanced training through a cardiology fellowship at UT Southwestern. She joined the UTSW faculty in 2021.

Dr. Tong is the second UTSW faculty member to be honored with the Sarver Award. Last year, Zhao Zhang, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Center for the Genetics of Host Defense and of Internal Medicine, was selected to receive the inaugural AHA Jack Sarver Prize in Basic Science.