The president of the Dallas-based American Heart Association is recovering after suffering a minor heart attack Monday morning at the organization's scientific conference in California.

John Warner, vice president and CEO of UT Southwestern University Hospitals and president of the American Heart Association, during his presidential address Sunday afternoon. Warner is recovering after a heart attack Monday morning. (American Heart Association)

John Warner, a cardiologist, vice president and CEO of UT Southwestern University Hospitals, was in stable condition with his family by his side at a Califoronia hospital. Doctors inserted a stent to open an artery, the association said in a prepared statement.

On Sunday afternoon, Warner gave his presidential address to the association's Scientific Sessions meeting and discussed the impact heart disease has had on his family.

His father and paternal grandfather both had heart bypass surgery in their 60s, and his maternal grandfather and great grandfather both died of heart disease.

"After my son was born and we were introducing him to his extended family, I realized something very disturbing: There were no old men on either side of my family. None. All the branches of our family tree cut short by cardiovascular disease," Warner, 52, said in his speech.

He called on the people at the conference to help change that.

Warner has been the organization's volunteer leader since he stepped into the one-year position in July.

Before taking on the role of CEO in 2012, Warner spent much of his career as an intervention cardiologist, performing the same procedure he received after his heart attack Monday, the organization said.

Association CEO Nancy Brown said in a written statement that Warner wanted to reinforce that his heart attack underscored the message of his speech, "that much progress has been made, but much remains to be done. Cardiac events can still happen anytime and anywhere."