C. Noel Bairey Merz, MD, 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 Smidt Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute. She is also a Professor of Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Dr. Bairey Merz is an internationally recognized leader in women’s cardiovascular health. Her research focuses on ischemic heart disease in women, mental stress and cardiovascular disease, lifestyle and nutrition-based prevention, Takotsubo syndrome, adverse pregnancy outcomes, and precision medicine approaches to predicting cardiovascular events. She serves as Chair of the NHLBI-sponsored Women’s Ischemic Syndrome Evaluation (WISE) initiative, advancing sex-specific diagnostic strategies for ischemic heart disease.
She has received research funding from numerous national and private organizations, including the NIH, NHLBI, Department of Defense, and major philanthropic foundations. Dr. Bairey Merz has authored more than 450 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, with over 400 abstracts published in leading journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, Circulation, and Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
A recognized authority on heart disease, Dr. Bairey Merz has appeared on national media programs including 60 Minutes, Good Morning America, and The Today Show, and has been featured in The New York Times and U.S. News & World Report. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago and her medical degree from Harvard University, with postgraduate training at UCSF and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
