Women's Heart Alliance Information

Our mission is to prevent women from needlessly facing and dying from heart disease and stroke. That’s why we’re focused on an area too long neglected in research, prevention, and care: The differences between men and women. When it comes to heart disease and stroke, women and men are not the same. Women’s hearts are smaller. Their risk factors, symptoms, and response to therapies can be different. Yet, most of the research on heart disease and stroke is conducted on men. Most of our diagnostic tools and treatments were tested and validated on men. Too often, health professionals aren’t aware of these disparities and too many patients aren’t either. Our Alliance draws attention to these sex differences and promotes activities that raise awareness and drive change, whether we’re working with local communities, college students, medical experts, or policymakers. We want health equity. We want to change research practices, so that women are equally represented in the lab and the clinic. We want to empower women to take their heart health into their own hands—especially younger women and minorities. 80% of heart disease and strokes can be prevented by healthy lifestyle changes. We want to improve the quality of care women receive for their heart health—so that every woman can access the support she needs, and every health care provider knows how to provide it. For those women who do suffer a heart attack or stroke, we want to increase their odds of survival. WHA is a unique collaboration between two of America’s leading medical institutions—the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center at Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute and the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center—and two major philanthropists and leaders in business and entertainment, Barbra Streisand and Ronald O. Perelman. Learn more: www.womensheartalliance.org Facebook: Women's Heart Alliance Instagram: @WomensHeartAlliance Twitter: @WHA