While president of the American Heart Association during 1998–1999, one of the projects that I enjoyed the most was the writing of occasional columns for Circulation on National Institutes of Health funding of research, the AHA’s new strategic plan, and other subjects of interest to cardiologists and other health professionals and scientists involved in cardiovascular research and medicine. For this column, which is being published after I step down as AHA president, I am delighted to introduce Circulation readers to my successor: Lynn Smaha, MD, PhD, an active AHA volunteer for 21 years and recipient of the organization’s Award of Meritorious Achievement. Dr Smaha, who became AHA president on Sunday, June 27, 1999, is a practicing clinical cardiologist at the Guthrie Clinic …