[2] In 1952, Braunwald married Nina Starr, a thoracic surgeon and medical researcher, with whom he had three children.
He has since been at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, where he served from 1972 to 1996 as Chair of the Department of Medicine.
[6] This is remarkable, given that there are over 200 other academic medical centers in the United States, alone, [7] containing tens of thousands of scientists.
Braunwald's contributions have been recognized by his election as a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the creation of a permanently endowed chair in his name by Harvard Medical School, and the establishment of the annual academic mentorship award by the American Heart Association.
In 2013, he received a degree honoris causa from the University of Salerno, heir of the ancient Schola Medica Salernitana.
Braunwald was instrumental in running the TIMI (Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction) studies, which developed the concepts of thrombosis superimposed on atherosclerosis as the pathological bases for acute myocardial infarction, and has led to treatments that reduce damage to the heart from a heart attack.
Braunwald denied knowledge of this academic misconduct despite two earlier accusations and his own internal investigation which found "no misleading information".