The singer urges lawmakers to prioritize the fight around women’s heart disease.
By Erica Moody
Women’s Heart Alliance CEO British Robinson, Senator Patty Murray, Barbra Streisand and Dr. Noel Bairey Merz, Director of the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center and Professor of Medicine (Photo by Aaron Clamage)
Most Hollywood celebrities left town after the White House Correspondents Dinner weekend, but one famous name remains in Washington. Barbra Streisand, the legendary singer and co-founder of the Women’s Heart Alliance, is visiting with senior members of Congress and top Administration officials this week to advocate for awareness and action around women’s heart health.
Heart disease is “the true Ladykiller,” according to Streisand. It kills one woman every minute and more women than all cancers combined. And women comprise just 35 percent of participants in all heart-related studies. Streisand and Ronald O. Perelman founded WHA in 2014 to raise awareness, encourage action and drive new research around a disease that suffers from misinformation, misdiagnosis and mistreatment.
“The current one size fits all approach of treating women with heart disease identical to men is outrageous, unfair and entirely reversible in this century of personalized medicine,” Streisand has said. “Women don’t deserve to be treated like second-class citizens. I urge our elected leaders in Washington to take a stand for women and make heart disease, the number one killer of women in the U.S., a fundamental national priority.”
Today, Streisand is meeting with Sens. Patty Murray, Dick Durbin and Roy Blunt.
For more information, visit www.fighttheladykiller.org, follow @FightLadyKiller and hashtag #getHeartChecked.
