[1] Berenson's fundamental research revealed that adult heart disease arises from practices and behaviors that begin in childhood.
He also discovered that atherosclerosis was significantly more pronounced in individuals who had three or four cardiovascular risk factors compared to those who had none.
[4][7] Upon the completion of his fellowship In 1954, Berenson joined Louisiana State University's medical school in New Orleans as an Assistant Professor in the department of medicine.
[4] In 1972, as a professor of cardiology at Louisiana State University School of Medicine, he started the Bogalusa Heart Study,[4] and it ran for four decades.
It was the only long-term study of heart disease in a single community with a stable population involving the consistent participation of Black and Caucasian Youth from early childhood through adulthood and middle age.
[3] In 1986, Berenson was named Boyd Professor, the highest award for a faculty member at Louisiana State University.
[3] He was the author of five medical books and over 1,000 research articles in peer-reviewed journals that spanned the fields of cardiology, pediatrics, biochemistry, epidemiology, and public health.