Noel Bairey Merz, MD, holds the Women’s Guild Endowed Chair in Women’s Health, and is Director of the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center, the Linda Joy Pollin Women’s Heart Health Program, 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, the role of exercise and stress management in reversing disease, and the role of nutrition in heart disease. Currently, she is chair of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-sponsored WISE (Women’s Ischemic Syndrome Evaluation) initiative, which is investigating potential methods for more effective diagnosis and evaluation of coronary artery disease in women. Dr. Bairey Merz has received investigational grants from the NIH-National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), NIH-National Center for Alternative and Complementary Medicine (NCCAM), the National Institutes of Aging (NIA), the Pfeiffer Foundation, the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, the Barbra Streisand Foundation, the Society for Women’s Health Research, the Linda Joy Pollin Women’s Heart Health Program, and the Women’s Guild.
Dr. Bairey Merz, is a member of many professional organizations, including the American Heart Association (AHA), the American College of Cardiology (ACC), the NHLBI Advisory Council, the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research, and the Association of Academic Women’s Health Programs. She is past member of the Board of Trustees of the ACC, where she is a fellow, and is a past-chair of the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease committee, and the Women in Cardiology Committee of the AHA. Other professional associations include membership on the National Space Biomedical Research Institute Board of Scientific Counselors, the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Board of Examiners, and she chaired the NIH-sponsored Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigations 2 Diabetes (BARI-2D) Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB).
Dr. Bairey Merz has appeared frequently in the media, recognized as an authority on the subject of heart disease and stress. Her television appearances have included 60 Minutes, NBC Dateline and 20/20. She has also been interviewed for articles published in The New York Times, and US News & World Report, to name a few.