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Dr. William B. Kannel is one of the original investigators for the Framingham Heart Study, serving as the study's second director from 1966 to 1979. He is now professor emeritus of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine. Active in the field of cardiovascular epidemiology for more than 55 years and associated with pioneering the Framingham Heart Study since its inception in 1949, Dr. Kannel replaced Dr. Thomas R. Dawber, the original architect of the world famous study, when he became director. He was also an attending physician at Boston University Medical Center and a member of the Evans Memorial Foundation.

Dr. Kannel is trained in public health, receiving a master's degree cum laude from Harvard in 1959, to go along with his training in internal medicine and clinical cardiology. He had been associated with the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute for over 35 years, and has had a long abiding interest in preventive cardiology, for which he received the Dana Award in Preventive Medicine in 1972, the Dutch Einthoven Award in 1973, the Canadian Gairdner Award in 1976, the CIBA Award for Hypertension Research in 1981, the James D. Bruce Memorial Award of the American College of Physicians in 1982, and the Charles A. Dana Award for Pioneering Achievement in Health in 1986. He was named the University Lecturer of Boston University Medical Center in 1987. He received the Distinguished Service Award at the 37th Annual Convocation of the American College of Cardiology in 1988, the Award for Research in Hypertension from the National Conference on Cholesterol and Hypertension in 1991, the Bristol-Myers Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Cardiovascular Research in 1993, the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Georgia Medical School in 1993, the Research Achievement Award from the American Heart Association (AHA) in 1994, and the HealthTrac Foundation Fries Award in 1998. Dr. Kannel has also received honorary medical degrees from the University of Goteborg, Sweden, the University of Rio de Janeiro and an honorary doctor of science degree from the Medical College of Ohio. In 2003, he received the Paul Dudley White Award from the AHA's Northeast Affiliate and the William Harvey Award from the American Society of Hypertension. In 2004, he received the Society of Geriatric Cardiology Lifetime Achievement Award.

He is a past chairman of the AHA's Council of Epidemiology and a past chief of the section of preventive medicine and epidemiology in the department of medicine at Boston University Medical Center. He has held faculty appointments at Harvard Medical College and was a senior research associate in the Center for Technology and Policy at Boston University.

Dr. Kannel is a graduate of the Medical College of Georgia (1949). He was trained in internal medicine in the United States Public Health Service at Staten Island, New York, and certified in 1958, becoming a fellow of the American College of Cardiology in 1969. He is also a fellow of the American College of Epidemiology and the American College of Preventive Medicine (honorary).