Congratulations to Dr. Rebecca T. Hahn

Dr. Hahn is a world-renowned clinician, academic leader, and educator, who has deeply shaped the evolution of imaging in structural heart procedures — transforming how clinicians diagnose, treat, and manage patients with structural heart disease. Widely recognized as the founder of interventional echocardiography, she has established imaging as an essential, procedure‑guiding discipline. Her unparalleled expertise and advanced skill set have demonstrated that the imager’s role is as vital as the operator’s, redefining how heart teams collaborate. As a tireless educator, she has trained and mentored a new generation of imaging specialists, spending time in cath labs around the world to share her methods and elevate standards of care. She is the first imager ever to receive this award — a testament to how profoundly she has advanced the role of imaging in cardiovascular care.

Among her current leadership roles, Dr. Hahn is Chief Scientific Officer, Echocardiography Core Laboratory at the CRF Clinical Trials Center; Director of Interventional Echocardiography at the Columbia Structural Heart & Valve Center at NewYork-Presbyterian / Columbia University Irving Medical Center; and a Professor of Medicine at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. In 2009, she joined Columbia | Interventional Cardiovascular Care (CICC) as its first Director of Interventional Echocardiography for the Structural Heart & Valve Center and Director of the first dedicated Interventional Echocardiography Fellowship. 

Dr. Hahn has significantly contributed to the international body of knowledge and approach to imaging in the cath lab. She has served as Course Director for the Annual State-of-the-Art Echo Course, which trains and educates health care professionals on established and new recommendations of the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE). Previously, she directed the Echocardiography Lab at North Shore University Hospital, and prior to that, was the Director of Clinical Echocardiography at Cornell University. She has published more than 565 articles and 11 book chapters on echocardiography and valvular heart disease, and has been on the writing committees for five sets of recommendations/guidelines for the American Society of Echocardiography and four documents for the Academic Research Consortium (ARC). She was the national principal investigator for the SCOUT Trial investigating the Trialign annuloplasty device, and was the national co-principal investigator for the Triscend II Pivotal Trial, which investigated the now FDA-approved EVOQUE Transcatheter Tricuspid Valve Replacement device. In addition, she has been a grand rounds speaker at more than 40 different institutions and has been an invited lecturer in over 15 countries. 

The accolades Dr. Hahn has received — in addition to the TCT^® Geoffrey O. Hartzler Master Operator Award — reflect her influential contributions to the field. She received a Physician Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Echocardiography in 2023, a Lifetime Achievement Award from CSI in 2025, and gave the European Society of Cardiology Rene Laennec Lecture in Clinical Cardiology in 2025. 

Dr. Hahn completed her cardiology fellowship, internship, and residency — including a year as assistant chief resident — at New York Hospital/Cornell Medical Center. She earned her medical degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Dr. Hahn is a Fellow of the American Society of Echocardiography, Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, and Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology.