In the long human effort to understand why some hearts fail to form as they should, Benoit Bruneau has spent decades mapping the molecular language of embryonic development — asking, with quiet persistence, what instructs a cluster of cells to become a beating, chambered heart. The American Heart Association has named him a 2026 Distinguished Scientist, its highest honor, recognizing not only his discoveries about gene regulation and congenital heart disease but the way those discoveries have become the foundation upon which an entire field continues to build.