Barbra Streisand Women's Heart Center
The Barbra Streisand Women's Heart Center in the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute is playing a leading role in identifying female-pattern heart disease, developing new diagnostic tools and advancing specialized care for women. Although heart disease kills more women than men every year, until recently, women’s heart disease treatment was based on medical research performed on men. Under the direction of C. Noel Bairey Merz, MD, the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center is working to correct these gender inequalities as well as to educate women on how to recognize female-pattern heart disease symptoms.
The center provides convenient access to all of Cedars-Sinai's heart disease diagnostic and treatment resources and is designed to help women reduce their chances of heart disease through a preventative approach, including state-of-art screening and testing. One out of two women will develop heart and vascular disease during their lifetimes. Two out of every three women have at least one of the risk factors for heart disease. These risk factors are identified as:
- Age over 55 years
- Family history of premature heart disease
- Cigarette smoking
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
- Obesity
- Diabetes
Dr. Bairey Merz and her team have developed heart health tips and guidelines for women to follow to make sure their cardiac health is in top condition.
To learn more about the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center and support heart disease research, click here.
In the 2012-13 U.S. News and World Report Best Hospitals issue, Cedars-Sinai once again ranked among America's best in Cardiology and Heart Surgery.
