Detailed Biography:

C. Noel Bairey Merz, MD, holds the Irwin and Sheila Allen Chair in Women’s Heart Research, and is Director of the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center, the Linda Joy Pollin Women’s Heart Health Program, the Erika J Glazer Women’s Heart Research Initiative, and the Preventive Cardiac Center at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute. She also is Professor of Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Dr. Bairey Merz’s research interests include women and cardiovascular disease, mental stress and heart disease, preventive cardiology and the role of risk factors including stress management in reversing disease. A prolific lecturer and member of many professional organizations, Dr. Bairey Merz, has received numerous investigational grants and chairs the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-sponsored WISE (Women’s Ischemic Syndrome Evaluation) initiative. Dr. Bairey Merz has received numerous awards and honors, and her extensive scientific publication record spans 425+ scientific papers, 315+ abstracts, myriad book chapters, and countless peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Bairey Merz earned her bachelor’s degree at the University of Chicago, her medical degree at Harvard University, and completed her residency at the University of California, San Francisco, where she served as Chief Medical Resident before completing fellowships in clinical cardiology and nuclear cardiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

A prolific lecturer, Dr. Bairey Merz, is a member of many professional organizations, including the American College of Cardiology (ACC), the American Heart Association (AHA), the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research, the American Society of Preventive Cardiology, the Association of Academic Women's Health Programs, and the Association of Women's Heart Programs. She has served on the NHLBI Advisory Council, the Board of Trustees of the ACC, and is a past-chair of the ACC Publication, the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease and the Cardiovascular Disease in Women committees. Other professional associations have included membership on the National Space Biomedical Research Institute Board of Scientific Counselors, the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Board of Examiners, Chair of the NIH-sponsored Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigations 2 Diabetes (BARI-2D) Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) and the ISCHEMIA Trial Steering Committee. She serves on the advisory boards of lay organizations, including WomenHeart and the Women’s Heart Alliance.

Dr. Bairey Merz has received numerous awards and honors, including the 2008 McCue Female Cardiologist of the Year Award, the 2005 Red Dress Award For Leadership in Cardiovascular Research in Women, the 2005 VHA Inc. Best Practices Awards for Special Achievement Award presented to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of health care, the 2005 Women of the 21st Century award from the Women's Guild of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and the 2006 Alvin P. Shapiro Award by Psychosomatic Society for excellence in clinical research.

Dr. Bairey Merz has appeared frequently in the media, recognized as an authority on the subject of heart disease. Her television appearances have included Good Morning America, NBC Dateline and 20/20. She has also been interviewed for articles published in The New York Times, Ladies Home Journal, US News & World Report and Working Woman Magazine, to name a few. Dr. Bairey Merz is currently a national spokesperson for the Women’s Heart Alliance PSA campaign, which seeks to raise awareness of heart disease in women.