ISSUE 12 • FALL 2014
ANITA DANN FRIEDMANConnie Austin’s daughter carries on her late mother’s mission to make medical education a priority.
A newsletter from the Cedars-Sinai Barbra Streisand
Women’s Heart Center
Her Mother’s Daughter 4
Q&A with Terran Lamp
Barbra Streisand on Capitol Hill 3
10
NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE
PAIDPERMIT NO. 22328LOS ANGELES, CA
Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center 444 South San Vicente Boulevard, Suite 600Los Angeles, California 90048
For more information on the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, call 310-423-9680 or go to cedars-sinai.edu/womensheart-4
To make a gift, please contact Allyson Tom at 323-866-6240 or [email protected], or visit cedars-sinai.edu/whc
MEDAL OF HONOR Jennifer Van Eyk, PhD — the Erika J. Glazer Chair in Women’s Heart Health and director of Basic Science Research at the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center — has earned the 2014 FGTB Medal of Honor from the American Heart Association and the Council on Functional Genomics and Translational Biology.
The honor is presented to a scientist who has made significant contributions to the field of functional genomics and translational biology. Dr. Van Eyk, director of the Advanced Clinical Biosystems Research Institute at Cedars-Sinai, will accept the award at a conference in Chicago in November.
AARP HEART DISEASE UPDATE More U.S. women have died of cardiovascular disease than men in every one of the past 30 years, according to a lead feature in AARP Magazine’s April/May issue. In the magazine, which spotlighted the work of the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center, Dr. Bairey Merz outlines how many traditional tests for cardiovascular disease are impacted by gender differences. “We can use the same tests we use for men,” she noted, “but we need to read them differently for women.”
ALUMNI RECOGNITION Dr. Bairey Merz received an Alumni Medal for Professional Achievement from the University of Chicago during its 2014 Alumni Awards ceremony on June 7. She graduated from the College of the University of Chicago with honors in 1977 before going on to Harvard Medical School. Dr. Bairey Merz, university officials noted, “is credited with making a historic and global impact on the treatment of women’s heart disease.”
IN THE NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3
LEADERSHIP UPDATE
IN HER HEART FALL 20142
C. Noel Bairey Merz, MD, FACC, FAHADirector, Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute Director, Preventive and Rehabilitative Cardiac Center Director, Linda Joy Pollin Women’s Heart Health Program Professor of Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Heart InstituteWomen’s Guild Chair in Women’s Health
The first step in successful preventive care, diagnosis, and treatment is understanding. Through
our new Linda Joy Pollin Women’s Heart Health Program and in all of our endeavors, we work
hard to spread the word about the often unique signs and characteristics of women’s heart
disease. A growing body of scientific data reinforces these gender differences and disparities —
including our own research into novel diagnostic tests and treatment approaches.
Because we are part of a major teaching hospital, our commitment to academic medicine runs deep.
A critical part of that mission is the training we provide in clinical care and research to medical
students, residents, fellows, and advanced practice health providers (such as nurse practitioners and
pharmacists). We are nurturing a new generation of women’s heart specialists and scientists who will
continue to push our field forward and help close the research gap. It is because of generous donors
like our friend Connie Austin that we are able to advance this mission and honor her legacy.
In this issue of In Her Heart, you will read more about Connie and the Constance A. Austin
Fellow in Women’s Heart Health, which she founded, and which her daughter, Anita Dann
Friedman, sustains as a living, loving tribute.
Each year since 2006, because of Connie Austin’s visionary support, we have been able to provide
extraordinary opportunities to a new fellow for mentorship, scholarship, and research for the last
eight years — building their skills in grant writing, analytical thinking, scientific inquiry, as well as
offering the gift of time to pursue vital inquiry. We are saddened by Connie’s passing this March, but
buoyed by her legacy, which lives on in the talented individuals whose careers she has already helped
launch as well as those to come, and in the women everywhere whose lives she has touched.
Education happens in many ways. We learn from our patients, many of whom go on to become
women’s health advocates, such as Terran Lamp, who you will also meet in these pages. Each of us —
each of you — is a potential teacher, able to share the message that heart disease is the leading killer of
both women and men — and that we must do something to change that. Please join us in this cause.
We are passionate educators at the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center. That passion takes many forms as we strive to build awareness among the public, medical professionals, and policymakers about women’s heart disease.
Streisand in D.C.
Barbra Streisand took her passion — plus some powerfully persuasive statistics — to Capitol Hill in June, where she made a case for increased funding for research into women’s heart disease.
She met with key Congressional leaders and the Senate and House women’s caucuses, as well as with senior officials from the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
“Heart disease is the number one killer of women, more than all cancers combined,” Streisand told the legislators. “Since 1984, more women than men have died every year from heart disease. It’s time for more funding, more research, and more attention for women’s heart disease.”
She was accompanied by C. Noel Bairey Merz, MD, director of the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center, and Holly S. Andersen, MD, attending cardiologist and director of education and outreach at the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
Since women’s heart disease knows no political affiliation, Streisand was determined to make the Capitol Hill visit bipartisan. Among other lawmakers, she met with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), and Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.).
“A woman’s heart is different from a man’s, yet women’s hearts are under-researched, go untreated, and are misdiagnosed. Together, we can change that,” Streisand told the House Bipartisan Women’s Caucus and the Senate Bipartisan Women’s Caucus. In its coverage, The New York Times noted that “People packed the meeting room and applauded during the session.”
Currently, in the U.S., about 10 times more money is spent on women’s cancer research each year than on women’s heart disease research. With heart disease being the leading killer of women — more than all cancers combined — it’s time to bring funding for research into women’s cardiovascular disease to a similar level, Streisand said. “We cannot let another year pass when another 400,000 of our fellow women die because these disparities are not addressed.”
IN THE NEWS
CEDARS-SINAI BARBRA STREISAND WOMEN’S HEART CENTER 3
Fight the Ladykiller Campaign
Tackling gender inequality in women’s heart health is a central mission of the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center. Now, the center is taking this commitment even further, joining forces with Barbra Streisand, Ronald Perelman, and the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute at New York–Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center to form the Women’s Heart Alliance. This fall, the new women’s heart health organization — which serves to empower
women in the battle against heart disease — is launching Fight the Ladykiller, a campaign about awareness and action.
Fight the Ladykiller (www.fighttheladykiller.org) will urge women to talk to their healthcare providers, and will give them a single, meaningful step they can take — #getHeartChecked. The campaign will also encourage the medical community to discuss women’s heart health with patients and peers, and to proactively address the screening, diagnostic, and therapeutic differences between a woman’s and a man’s heart. In addition, the effort aims to help spur national policymakers to take action to fund women’s heart health research.
“Our approach is different,” says C. Noel Bairey Merz, MD, an integral member of the Women’s Heart Alliance who is providing medical guidance for the initiative. “Like during the breast cancer movement of the early 1970s, we must unite women in declaring heart disease the clear enemy. We must dare to call out heart disease for the killer it is, and tell a different story — the story of lives lost too soon, and of lives empowered through knowledge.”
Sen. John McCain and Barbra Streisand in Washington, D.C.
IN HER HEART SPRING 20144
Simple actions can inspire great initiatives. A decade ago,
Constance Austin — known to her friends as Connie — attended
a speech about the need for more research into women’s heart
disease, the No. 1 killer of women in America. What she did next not only
changed her own life, but also continues to help countless women around
the globe.
The speaker was C. Noel Bairey Merz, MD, director of the Barbra
Streisand Women’s Heart Center at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute.
At the time, the emerging center was beginning to build its faculty and
research programs. Inspired, Connie was determined to help.
In 2006, she launched the Constance A. Austin Fellow in Women’s Heart
Health. “She felt if women didn’t look out for other women, who would?”
recalls her daughter, Anita Dann Friedman.
In the ensuing eight years, the Constance A. Austin Fellow in Women’s
Heart Health has provided invaluable mentorship, training, and
dedicated research time to a new fellow each year. The results have
driven important investigations into the diagnosis and treatment
of women’s heart disease while helping to bring three new faculty
members to the center’s ranks.
“Connie was the founding mother of the Women’s Heart Center. She saw
the need and worked tirelessly to help us gain recognition and ensure
funding to sustain the work,” says Dr. Bairey Merz, who recalls Connie
introducing herself at that fateful event at the Skirball Cultural Center.
“We rapidly became allies and friends. Indeed, she became a friend to all
the women of the world through her passion, commitment, and work.”
Connie passed away at age 82 in March 2014, but her legacy lives on. Anita
is continuing the fellowship, through the S & A Agate Foundation, in her
mother’s honor. “My mother taught me to support the organizations and
causes that need you most,” says Anita. “My husband and I raised our
sons the same way. We root for the underdog in our house.”
HER MOTHER’S DAUGHTERConnie Austin was committed to making medical education a priority in the fight against women's heart disease. Now her daughter Anita is carrying the torch.
CEDARS-SINAI BARBRA STREISAND WOMEN’S HEART CENTER 5
“This fellowship helped solidify
my decision to pursue academic
cardiology sub-specialty training.
My fellowship was instrumental in not
only steering me in the right direction,
but also in equipping me with the
tools I needed to become a unique
asset to the field of women’s health.”
Bina Ahmed, MD, 2006 Fellow DIRECTOR OF WOMEN’S HEART CLINIC
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE, CARDIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, ALBUQUERQUE
“Not only is there a big need for education
and research regarding women’s heart
disease, but there is also a dearth of women
physician-researchers in t his country. Your
generous support encouraged and enabled
me to pursue my career goals.”
Puja K. Mehta, MD, 2009 FellowCO-DIRECTOR, CARDIO-ONCOLOGY PROGRAM
DIRECTOR, NON-INVASIVE VASCULAR FUNCTION RESEARCH LAB, BARBRA STREISAND WOMEN'S HEART CENTER
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE, CEDARS-SINAI HEART INSTITUTE
“After completing my residency
in internal medicine and a
general cardiology fellowship at
Cedars-Sinai, I knew a fellowship
in women’s heart disease would
offer a tremendous opportunity
for growth. I find Connie Austin’s
spirit inspiring, and I’m grateful
to be the recipient of her
generosity.”
Janet Wei, MD, 2013 FellowCARDIOLOGIST, BARBRA STREISAND WOMEN’S HEART CENTER
T32 FELLOW, CEDARS-SINAI HEART INSTITUTE
CEDARS-SINAI BARBRA STREISAND WOMEN’S HEART CENTER6 7IN HER HEART FALL 2014
That underdog includes research into
women’s heart disease, which for five
decades has had significantly less funding
and attention from the medical community than
research into cardiovascular disease in men —
something Connie and now Anita and her husband,
Harvey Friedman, are helping to change.
“The statistics are staggering,” says Anita. “While
30,000 women die each year of breast cancer,
400,000 die from heart disease.” She shares those
gloomy statistics in a sunny living room decorated
with white orchids and a grand piano topped with
family photographs, including Connie and her
beloved grandsons, Adam, 25, and Jonathan, 21
(see story, page 7).
Connie preferred to be a mover-and-shaker behind
the scenes, fulfilling goals through diplomacy and
quiet determination. “She didn’t toot her own horn.
She cared about the cause,” says Anita. She recalls
a luncheon during which her mother slyly switched
place cards so Dr. Bairey Merz would end up
sitting next to fellow philanthropist Edythe Broad,
who subsequently funded the Edythe L. Broad
Women’s Heart Research Fellowship at the Barbra
Streisand Women’s Heart Center.
Constance Agate Austin grew up in New York
City, the daughter of Anita and Sanford Agate,
a textile industry executive. At age 42, she left
her beloved hometown to move to Los Angeles
with daughter Anita’s stepfather, Bud Austin,
who became executive vice president and head of
Paramount Pictures Television. Soon after arriving
in Beverly Hills, Connie had minor surgery at
Cedars of Lebanon, which prompted her to join the
fundraising group Women’s Guild. In New York,
she headed the Women’s Auxiliary at Lenox Hill
Hospital, where her first husband had been an
internist specializing in cardiology.
The year after establishing her fellowship at
Cedars-Sinai, Connie needed the services of the
center she held so dear. Anita received a late-night
call from her mother, who thought she was having
a heart attack. Later diagnosis confirmed a mild
heart attack and the underlying problem —
coronary microvascular disease — a condition
affecting the heart’s smallest vessels that is more
common in women. The Constance A. Austin
Fellow in Women’s Heart Health supports research
into the causes of and treatments for heart disease
in women.
A little more than four years ago, Connie was
diagnosed with a slow-growing form of pancreatic
cancer. She had enough time to engage in long talks
with her grandsons about the meaning of life, as well
as time to introduce her daughter to her mission at
the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center and its
faculty. “She was passing the baton,” recalls Anita.
Adam Friedman and Jonathan Friedman called Connie Austin “Doda” instead of “grandmother.” The nickname, pronounced “Doodah,” stemmed from Adam’s early
attempts to say “grandma.” Connie immediately preferred the personalized moniker, and it stuck.
What also stuck were her regular reminders about generosity toward others. “She taught us to give back whenever and however we can,” says Jonathan, 21, a junior at New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study.
“She made it clear it’s important to treat others respectfully and to have a good heart,” adds Adam, 25, in business development at Creative Artists Agency in Los Angeles.
Inspired by her teachings, and also by their parents’ example, Adam and Jonathan volunteered at a food bank
and for Cedars-Sinai’s TEEN LINE — a confidential teen-to-teen telephone helpline — throughout high school, along with other community service.
For both her grandsons, Doda was on speed dial. After work or golf, “she was the first call I’d make,” says Adam. It was the same for Jonathan: “She was my go-to call.”
Asked to describe her, Adam and Jonathan choose the same word first: loving. And, of course, giving. Both recall that, whether walking around with her in the streets of Beverly Hills or Manhattan, or through her beloved Hillcrest Country Club, there wasn't anywhere they could go without her being greeted by anyone and everyone. “I knew her as the arbiter of what is the right thing to do,” says Adam. “Even now, I always ask, ‘What would Doda do? Would she approve?’”
A Tribute to ‘Doda’
JOLLY GOOD FELLOWSTHE CONSTANCE A. AUSTIN FELLOW IN WOMEN’S HEART HEALTH helps enrich and advance the education and career paths of new generations of cardiac specialists. The following letters — written to Connie Austin by fellows in the program as well as physicians at the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center — are just a few expressions of the immense gratitude felt for the program and its namesake.
“Thank you, Connie Austin, for your remarkable
contribution to women’s heart disease research
and heart health. I am convinced that this
fellowship will further many young physicians
and provide vital opportunities for them to
advance women’s health.”
Chrisandra L. Shufelt, MD, MS, 2007 FellowDIRECTOR, WOMEN'S HORMONE AND MENOPAUSE PROGRAM
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, BARBRA STREISAND WOMEN’S HEART CENTER
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE, CEDARS-SINAI HEART INSTITUTE
“Your gift of a fellowship allowed me to be surrounded by amazing,
supportive, and brilliant women cardiologists and gave me the
confidence I needed to succeed. I was able to learn skills that make me
a better investigator.”
Megha Agarwal, MD, 2011 FellowCLINICAL CARDIOLOGY FELLOW, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE
“My mother taught me to support the organizations and
causes that need you most.My husband and I raised our
sons the same way. We root for the underdog in our house.”
—anita dann friedman
8
EDUCATION and COMMUNITY OUTREACH
“I could not think of a better way to reach out to our sisters than establishing the Linda Joy Pollin Women’s Heart Health Program. Heart disease knows no boundaries, and neither do we.” — Irene Pollin
Bolstered by the resources of the Linda Joy Pollin Women’s Heart Health Program, the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center continues taking its message about the need for increased research and awareness of women’s heart disease around the globe. At the same time, center faculty members welcome the world into its home at Cedars-Sinai.
WOMEN’S HEALTH LEADERS CONVENE The first-ever Women’s Health Leadership Summit drew leaders in women’s health from around the country to the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center Oct. 9 and 10, made possible by the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center and women’s health advocate Erika J. Glazer. The attendees met to strategize ways to increase the number of leaders in women’s health in all fields of academic internal medicine as a mechanism for advancing research, education, and clinical care for women. The leaders discussed updates in women’s health science, medicine, and technology and planned strategies regarding increasing the number of endowed chairs in women’s health. The steering committee will draft a proposed plan of action and one-year deliverables for a subsequent summit in 2015.
VISITING CLINICIANS The Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center provides both a training ground and launching pad for clinicians devoted to advancing women’s heart disease research and treatment. Cardiologist Suzette Smale, MD, a visiting professor from The Netherlands, found her recent sojourn to Cedars-Sinai particularly valuable and enlightening. “My colleague and I are trying to start the first women’s heart center in Holland,” Dr. Smale says. “The best place to get hands-on experience and more information to get started is Cedars-Sinai. I have learned a lot about funding, clinics, research, patient care, and other useful information to help me achieve this goal.”
WORLDWIDE CONNECTIONS Puja K. Mehta, MD, director of the Non-invasive Vascular Function and Research Laboratory at the Barbra Streisand Women's Heart Center and co-director of the Cardio-Oncology Program at Cedars-Sinai, presented recent findings about the links between cancer and heart disease to the World Heart Federal/World Congress of Cardiology Scientific Sessions in Melbourne, Australia, in May. A clinical review spanning the first half of 2013 showed that 92 percent of cancer survivors seen in the Cardio-Oncology Clinic at Cedars-Sinai had at least one cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factor. In addition, the burden of CVD risk factors for breast cancer survivors in particular was rated high.
“These results indicate the clinic is needed to help implement lifestyle modifications and preventive therapeutic interventions in cancer survivors,” said Dr. Mehta during her presentation on “Heart Disease & Breast Cancer Survivorship: A Cardio-Oncology Quality Improvement Initiative.” The program is a collaboration of the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center and Cedars-Sinai’s Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute.
LEADERSHIP AWARD Women’s health pioneer Molly Carnes, MD, MS, is the inaugural recipient of the Linda Joy Pollin Women’s Heart Health Leadership Award from the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center. The award recognizes physicians and scientists who have had a profound impact on women and their heart health. “Not only has Dr. Carnes been influential in the science of internal medicine and geriatrics, but she also has devoted herself to helping other women scientists achieve their goals,” said C. Noel Bairey Merz, MD, director of the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center.
Dr. Carnes, who is a professor in the departments of Medicine (Geriatrics), Psychiatry, and Industrial & Systems Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, co-founded the Women in Science & Engineering Institute in 2002. She has published extensively in the area of gender and academic promotion, including “Why is Jack more likely to be department chair than Jill?” More Information can be found at http://wiseli.engr.wisc.edu
108 IN HER HEART FALLL 2014 CEDARS-SINAI BARBRA STREISAND WOMEN’S HEART CENTER 9
Dr. Molly Carnes and Dr. C. Noel Bairey Merz
Dr. C. Noel Bairey Merz and Irene Pollin
IN HER HEART FALL 201310
Q: What kinds of health problems did you have as a child?
A: At only 3 weeks old, I was admitted to the hospital. Doctors told my 17-year-old mother that I had two holes in my heart, congestive heart failure, and multiple other heart defects. On top of that, I was born with only one kidney. By age 4, I had endured several open-heart surgeries and had a pacemaker implanted.
By the time I started grade school, when other kids were learning to read books, I was in the hospital reading EKGs. At age 10, I was diagnosed with a benign dermoid brain tumor. My mother refused to put me through another operation. The tumor hasn’t grown in 29 years.
Q: With all that, what was your childhood like?A: In a word, experimental. I didn’t know what I
could do, and neither did my mom. But I was really active. In high school, I was on the track team. I went to college out of state and earned an MBA. The first time I flew, the first time I went to Europe — it was all an experiment. Now I have a successful career in medical sales, started a business [Self Confidence: Wear It], and wrote a book, 101 Ways to Build Self Confidence. I keep pushing my limits.
Q: Tell us about becoming a speaker and advocate for women’s heart health.
A: I realized it was OK to be a “different” kid. Being different has turned into a mission to educate others. I became a champion with WomenHeart, the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease. Through that affiliation and on my own, I’ve spoken to at-risk youth, ex-offenders, high school students, and women’s groups, and at fairs, schools, churches. Last year, I was a keynote speaker for physicians and researchers at the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center. Being able to impact people’s lives in a positive way is satisfying.
Q: What’s your main message?A: Stay confident and heart healthy! I tell people,
I have a pacemaker, a brain tumor, one kidney. If I can walk around the block, you can walk around the block. Know your body, know your numbers. I snow ski, water ski, travel the world. My disease doesn’t own me. Finding out about your heart health isn’t about scaring yourself. It’s about educating yourself. I really believe I am the creator of my destiny.
Q&A
10 IN HER HEART FALL 2014
Terran Lamp
Terran Lamp was born with complex congenital heart disease. Today, aged 39 and a patient at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, she enjoys a multifaceted career and a dedication to spreading awareness about heart health.
CEDARS-SINAI BARBRA STREISAND WOMEN’S HEART CENTER 11
Anger, frustration, and other emotional stresses potentially cause changes in the nervous system that regulates heart rate, triggering a type of coronary artery disease that occurs more frequently
in women than men.
In men with coronary artery disease, the large arteries feeding the heart tend to become clogged by plaque, and these blockages are evident on coronary angiograms. Women, however, may have chest pain but show no evidence of arterial obstruction because it’s the small cardiac arteries that fail to function properly — a condition called coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD).
Fuming? Irritated? Your Heart Could Be at Risk
RESEARCH UPDATE
Researchers at the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center have been trying to find the cause or causes behind CMD. The latest findings came from a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded K23 training grant to study cardiac autonomic nervous system function in women with CMD.
“We know that women who have chest pain and reduced oxygen to the heart — in the absence of ‘male-pattern’ obstructive coronary artery disease — may experience microvascular dysfunction during times of emotional distress even though their heart rates stay relatively low,” says Puja K. Mehta, MD, director of the Non-invasive Vascular Function Research Laboratory and co-director of the Cardio-Oncology Program. She was lead author on the published abstract. C. Noel Bairey Merz, MD, director of the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center, served as senior author.
Researchers have long suspected that stress plays a role in heart disease in both men and women. Acute disasters such as earthquakes are associated with increased heart attacks and arrhythmias. But this study is among the first to look at emotional stress in women with CMD.
Sixteen women diagnosed with CMD participated in the trial, as did a control group of eight women of similar age and
weight who did not have CMD. Dr. Mehta’s team measured heart rate, blood pressure, and heart variability (alterations in time from one beat to the next), both when the women were at rest and when they were subjected to several types of mental stress. The challenges included standardized tests for anger, mental arithmetic, and cold packs on the forehead.
Both groups responded in a similar way to the stressors, except when dealing with anger. In those cases of emotional stress, women already diagnosed with CMD had increased sympathetic nerve stimulation. This is associated with a quickened heart rate and decreased parasympathetic nerve activity, which relaxes and slows the heart rate.
Mehta said these results suggest that the autonomic nervous system may be one pathway involved in microvascular dysfunction in women.
Dr. Mehta plans further research to better understand this mechanism. She will now seek a larger grant from the NIH to study gender differences in how mental stress affects heart disease in both men and women, as well as whether manipulating the cardiac autonomic nervous system by such things as relaxation can improve blood vessel function and reduce the impact of heart disease.
“We know that women who have chest pain and reduced oxygen to the heart — in the absence of ‘male-pattern’ obstructive coronary artery disease — may experience microvascular dysfunction during times of emotional distress even though their heart rates stay relatively low.”
—PUJA K. MEHTA, MD
CEDARS-SINAI BARBRA STREISAND WOMEN’S HEART CENTER 11
ISSUE 12 • FALL 2014
ANITA DANN FRIEDMANConnie Austin’s daughter carries on her late mother’s mission to make medical education a priority.
A newsletter from the Cedars-Sinai Barbra Streisand
Women’s Heart Center
Her Mother’s Daughter 4
Q&A with Terran Lamp
Barbra Streisand on Capitol Hill 3
10
NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE
PAIDPERMIT NO. 22328LOS ANGELES, CA
Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center 444 South San Vicente Boulevard, Suite 600Los Angeles, California 90048
For more information on the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, call 310-423-9680 or go to cedars-sinai.edu/womensheart-4
To make a gift, please contact Allyson Tom at 323-866-6240 or [email protected], or visit cedars-sinai.edu/whc
MEDAL OF HONOR Jennifer Van Eyk, PhD — the Erika J. Glazer Chair in Women’s Heart Health and director of Basic Science Research at the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center — has earned the 2014 FGTB Medal of Honor from the American Heart Association and the Council on Functional Genomics and Translational Biology.
The honor is presented to a scientist who has made significant contributions to the field of functional genomics and translational biology. Dr. Van Eyk, director of the Advanced Clinical Biosystems Research Institute at Cedars-Sinai, will accept the award at a conference in Chicago in November.
AARP HEART DISEASE UPDATE More U.S. women have died of cardiovascular disease than men in every one of the past 30 years, according to a lead feature in AARP Magazine’s April/May issue. In the magazine, which spotlighted the work of the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center, Dr. Bairey Merz outlines how many traditional tests for cardiovascular disease are impacted by gender differences. “We can use the same tests we use for men,” she noted, “but we need to read them differently for women.”
ALUMNI RECOGNITION Dr. Bairey Merz received an Alumni Medal for Professional Achievement from the University of Chicago during its 2014 Alumni Awards ceremony on June 7. She graduated from the College of the University of Chicago with honors in 1977 before going on to Harvard Medical School. Dr. Bairey Merz, university officials noted, “is credited with making a historic and global impact on the treatment of women’s heart disease.”
IN THE NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3
