Heart to Heart: Women's Health and the Heart

Overview

Join us for this free event and hear from speakers about women's heart health, and what their work and experience could mean.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for Australian women, accounting for one in four female deaths each year. Yet women's symptoms have been underrecognised and often disregarded, which means women haven't always received the best possible care.

The Heart Research Institute's Heart to Heart seminar features a fantastic panel to discuss women's heart health from the perspectives of research, clinical care and lived experience.

Featuring special guest Libby Trickett, a retired Australian swimmer and gold medallist at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics. Libby suffered a spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD), a type of heart attack caused by a tear in the wall of a coronary artery that mostly affects women in their 40s and 50s. She will share her experience as a SCAD patient and journey to diagnosis.

Professor Mary Kavurma, Head of HRI's Vascular Complications Lab and Discovery Lead for the Centre for PAD, will talk about her research on menopause and heart disease. She leads a new $3 million national project investigating whether changes in blood vessel health during the menopausal transition could help identify women at higher risk of heart disease later in life.

Associate Professor Sarah Aitken, a vascular surgeon at Concord Hospital and Clinical Lead for HRI's the Centre for PAD, will talk about her involvement in women's health at Concord and her experience as a female vascular surgeon.

Join us for this free event and hear from our speakers about women's heart health, and what their work and experience could mean for you and the women in your life.

Program

5:00pm - Doors open and in-person attendees start arriving. Drinks and canapes served. Opportunity to chat with researchers.

5:45pm - Panel discussion begins followed by facilitated Q&A with audience.

7:00pm - Event concludes.

All times are in Australian Eastern Daylight Time.

About the Heart Research Institute (HRI)

Cardiovascular disease is the world's leading cause of death. It's more than heart attacks. It's stroke, blood vessel disease, peripheral artery disease and a wide range of vascular conditions that steal people from their families far too soon.

Founded in 1989, HRI is an internationally recognised leader in cardiovascular research - breaking ground in the lab and healing hearts in the real world.

Our purpose is simple: to give people impacted by cardiovascular disease more time. More time to live well. More time with the people they love.

When you support HRI, you help fund new ways to detect, treat and prevent cardiovascular disease. You back a world-class Institute that nurtures the next generation of researchers, champions women in STEMM, and upholds a deep, enduring commitment to Indigenous health.