Ebell Speaker Dr Bairey Merz Listens to Women’s Beating Hearts

Women’s hearts: they beat, they ache, they nurture. But they are also the biggest cause of women’s death, killing more women annually than all cancers combined. Yet few women know the causes and symptoms of heart disease.

World-renowned cardiologist, C. Noel Bairey Merz, M.D., will present “Women and Heart Disease:  What You Need to Know” at a lunch at the Ebell of Los Angeles on Monday, March 10.   At the Cedars Sinai Heart Institute Dr. Bairey Merz is Director of the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center. Her lunch talk, which is open to the public, will present potentially life-saving information about her pioneering research into gender differences in heart disease and what can be done to promote women’s heart health. “Know your own heart, how it aches, how it beats, how it nurtures, how it triumphs. Protect it, defend it, and above all, let it live.

Dr. Bairey Merz’ work at Cedars is redefining medical knowledge in the field of cardiology.  “We are doing our best to make up for the last 50 or so years when scientists thought women were just smaller versions of men,” said Dr. Bairey Merz.

Women’s heart conditions often go undetected because life-saving protocols and diagnostics were developed from studying men only – and women are biologically different.

Fifty percent of women will develop heart disease in their lifetime, yet standard diagnostic tools often fail them. For example, angiograms reveal dangerous clots in large arteries, a condition common to men.  According to Dr. Bairey Merz though, “women tend to have clear major arteries.”  She explains that for women, it is the smaller blood vessels, which the test does not see, that are more typically constricted.

Dr. Bairey Merz is leading the charge to level the playing field. “One of my goals for theBarbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center is to make women aware of the symptoms for female-pattern heart disease so they can be properly diagnosed,” Dr. Bairey Merz said.  “Even many doctors are unaware that women and men are different.

The cutting edge cardiologist has been published in over 185 medical publications. Her work also includes testing effects of stress, exercise and nutrition on women’s heart health and exploring innovative uses of stem cell therapy. Bairey Merz has won numerous awards, including the 2012 American College of Cardiology Distinguished Scientist Award.

“We are so fortunate to have Dr. Bairey Merz present her pioneering research as part of our women in leadership luncheon series,” said Patty Hill, President of the Ebell of Los Angeles. “It’s particularly appropriate during Women’s History Month because her life-saving work is making history.”