Women and heart disease

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death globally, taking an estimated 17.9 million lives each year according to the World Health Organization. Though it’s thought of by many as a man’s disease, 1 in 3 female deaths are caused by hashtag#CVD in the United States.

I spent a lot of time thinking about this when I was at Pfizer and was inspired by this cover story in the April 2003 issue of TIME Magazine to do something about it. It was this very cover that moved me to approach the American Heart Association to find a way to put the attention on hashtag#women + hashtag#heartdisease. In partnership with the American Heart Association, we developed the national hashtag#GoRedForWomen campaign to raise public and physician awareness of this real threat to women’s health. It launched in 2004.

At the time, it seemed like a big, bold idea, but the cause and the need for awareness was clearly great. I was fortunate to have many advocates (Thank you Craig Millian, Emad Abdelnaby, Greg Duncan, Patrick Holmes, and Gary Palmer) supporting this idea so we could bring it to life.

Almost 20 years later, I’m thrilled to watch how Go Red has transformed from an awareness campaign to an international movement to educate, empower, and raise funding for CVD and women's health. To this day, it remains one of the most significant accomplishments of my career.

The battle against heart disease isn't over, and we must continue the fight together.

I hope you’ll take a moment to learn about this year’s inspiring group of American Heart Association Go Red for Women "Real Women" National Ambassadors➡️ https://lnkd.in/g_yhNh_Y