The strength of this center is in its high caliber women faculty, who are not only dedicated to preventing and treating heart disease as it applies to women clinically, but are also committed to a variety of basic, clinical, and transitional research in various aspects of cardiovascular medicine.

Clinical and Research Interests

• Cardiovascular outcomes for elderly and female patients with cardiovascular disease across treatments and following revascularization
• Investigating novel risk factors and incorporating geriatric concepts of healthy aging (frailty, cognition) in the care of the elderly with cardiovascular disease
• Understanding clinical decision-making in women and its impact on use of resources
• Risk stratification for prevention of sudden cardiac death
• Implantable cardioverter defibrillators and permanent pacemakers
• Arrhythmias in the setting of acute coronary syndromes
• CHF primary and secondary cardiac prevention in women
• Disparities in clinical trial enrollment and understanding informed consent
• Noninvasive diagnostic testing and imaging, including echocardiography, nuclear cardiology, and cardiac MRI
• Application of testing to diagnosis and treatment of heart disease in women
• Diagnosis and risk stratification in ischemic heart disease, including the application of cardiac biomarkers and the role of clinical genomics and proteomics
• Therapy and management strategies for acute and chronic ischemic heart disease
• Heart disease and response to therapy in women
• Hormonal modulation and heart disease
• Pregnancy and myocardial infarction risk
• Genetics of premature coronary disease
• Genomic medicine
• Psychosocial impact on cardiovascular health

Selected Publications

• Frazier CG, Alexander KP, Newby LK, Packer M, Cohn J, Goldstein S, Hjalmarson A, Anderson S, Iverson E, Douglas PS. Sex differences in heart failure etiology and outcomes: a pooled analysis of five randomized control trials. JACC 2006; in press.
• Al-Khatib SM, LaPointe NM, Kramer JM, Califf RM. What clinicians should know about the QT interval. JAMA. 2003 Apr 23-30;289(16):2120-7. Review. Erratum in: JAMA 2003 Sep10;290(10):1318.
• Alexander KP, Newby LK, Hellkamp AS, Harrington RA, Peterson ED, Kopecky S, Langer A, O'Gara P, O'Connor CM, Daly RN, Califf RM, Khan S, Fuster V. Initiation of hormone replacement therapy after acute myocardial infarction is associated with more unstable angina during follow-up. J Am Coll Cardiol 2001;38:1-7.
• Parsons E, Newby LK, Bhapkar MV, Alexander KP, White HD, Shah SH, Bushnell CD, Califf RM, for the SYMPHONY and 2nd SYMPHONY Investigators. Post-menopausal hormone use in women with acute coronary syndromes. J Women's Health 2004;Oct;13(8):863-871.
• Quinones MA, Douglas PS, Foster E, et al. American Society of Echocardiography; Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists; Society of Pediatric Echocardiography. ACC/AHA clinical competence statement on echocardiography: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association/American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine Task Force on clinical competence. J Am Soc Echocardiogr 2003 Apr;16(4):379-402.
• Biswas, M, Bastian, LA. Risk Factors for Heart Disease Among Women: Communicating Probabilities of Disease. J of Clinical Outcomes Management June 2002;9(6):333-340.

Faculty

Svati H. Shah, MD, MPS
Director

Karen P. Alexander, MD
Sana M. Al-Khatib, MD, MHS
Anna Lisa Crowley, MD 
Pamela S. Douglas, MD
Ruth Ann Greenfield, MD 
Radha G. Kachhy, MD
L. Kristin Newby, MD, MHS

Contact Information

Campus mail: DUMC 3445 Durham, NC, 27710 
Phone: 919-681-5816