Dr. Joseph Perloff is considered one of the founders of the discipline of ACHD and made true pioneering contributions to our field. In 1980, he established one of the first ACHD centers in the world, the Ahmanson Adult Congenital Heart Disease Center at UCLA, and was named Director. The Center rapidly gained widespread recognition and support both in the US and around the world. He also was instrumental in the founding of ISACHD. Although Dr. Perloff stepped down as Director of the UCLA program in 2001, he remained extremely productive in his emeritus role, continuing to teach, write, research and lecture. Teaching was his passion. He was world renowned for his bedside clinical skills and his teaching of the clinical examination. He received multiple prestigious teaching awards and has inspired numerous young physicians to enter and serve the field of ACHD. He was an internationally acclaimed lecturer in the field of congenital heart disease and related issues. He authored of the widely acclaimed textbook, The Clinical Recognition of Congenital Heart Disease, which has become the go-to book for congenital heart disease.

The Award was presented at ISACHD's biannual meeting in November 2014, held in Chicago during the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions. Dr. Perloff's grandson, Benjamin Lempert, accepted the award in his grandfather's honor.