Center for Women's Heart Care - Division of Cardiovascular Medicine ::

Center for Women's Heart Care

Duke Center for Women’s Heart Care

Svati H. Shah, MD, MPS

Faculty

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

The Duke Center for Women’s Heart Care is a unique clinical program aimed at treating and preventing heart disease through addressing the distinct concerns of women. The strength of this center is in its high caliber women faculty who are not only dedicated to caring for of 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 including unique gender issues.

Clinical and Research Interests

Research on cardiovascular outcomes for elderly and woman 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 utilization of resources
Risk stratification for prevention of sudden cardiac death
Implantable cardioverter defibrillators, permanent pacemakers
Arrhythmias in the setting of acute coronary syndromes
CHF Primary and secondary cardiac prevention in women
Disparities in clinical trial enrollment 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 MI 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