[2] In 1960, at the age of 32, she led the operative team at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) that implanted the first successful artificial mitral human heart valve replacement, which she had designed and fabricated.

[2] Braunwald completed her training in general surgery at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C., with a postdoctoral fellowship in the surgical laboratory of Charles A. Hufnagel,[3] inventor of the first artificial heart valve.

[7] Braunwald designed and fabricated an experimental, artificial mitral valve prostheses, implanting them in dogs at the National Heart Institute's surgical clinic in 1959.

[12] This foundation also offers the Nina Starr Braunwald Research Fellowship to provide salary and direct experimental support for women cardiac surgical trainees who wish to learn investigational skills.

[15][16] Dr. Nina Starr Braunwald died of cancer on August 5, 1992, aged 64, in Weston, Massachusetts, after a career that included prominent appointments at the NIH, University of California, San Diego, Harvard Medical School, and Brigham and Women's Hospital.