VCU news

By Pamela DiSalvo Lepley
Division of University Relations

Noel Bairey Merz, M.D., a nationally recognized authority on preventive cardiology and women’s heart health, has taken the top honor in the inaugural Dr. Carolyn McCue Woman Cardiologist of the Year Award program, presented by the Virginia Commonwealth University Pauley Heart Center.

Dr. Bairey Merz holds the Women's Guild Endowed Chair in Women's Health and is director of the Women's Heart Center, director of the Preventive and Rehabilitative Cardiac Center and professor of Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles.

The McCue Award honors the memory of Dr. Carolyn McCue, one of the few female cardiologists of her time and a pioneer in the field of pediatric cardiology, who practiced at the Medical College of Virginia, now the VCU Medical Center, for 42 years. She created and chaired the school's Pediatric Cardiology Division for 20 years, during which she was instrumental in establishing pediatric cardiology clinics in medically underserved communities throughout Virginia.

The McCue Award is made possible by a grant from the McCue family “to encourage and inspire other young women to pursue careers in cardiology.” The award carries a $10,000 prize and will be presented at a ceremony in Richmond on Feb. 26, 2009. The family plans to make it an annual award.

“Dr. Bairey Merz truly exemplifies the qualities of Dr. Carolyn McCue,” said George W. Vetrovec, M.D., chair of the VCU School of Medicine's Division of Cardiology. “She is a trailblazer, a prolific researcher, an inspiring educator and mentor, and a very fine cardiologist. Her groundbreaking work in both preventive cardiology and women’s heart health has advanced our knowledge base and given serious momentum to these critically important areas of our field. I can’t think of a better role model for young women considering cardiology careers.”

Since 1997, Bairey Merz has been chair of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute-sponsored multicenter study, Women’s Ischemic Syndrome Evaluation (WISE), which is investigating the potential for more effective diagnostic, evaluation and treatment methods for ischemic heart disease in women and is considered the pre-eminent examination of women and ischemic heart disease.

Throughout her career Dr. Bairey Merz has served the medical community in countless ways. She is on the board of trustees of the American College of Cardiology, serves on the steering committees for the National Cholesterol Education Program and writing group and the National Space Biomedical Research Institute and is chair of the American Heart Association Women in Cardiology committee. She has authored more than 170 peer-reviewed research papers and has been an invited presenter at more than 300 scientific meetings.

The McCue Award Program attracted nominations from top medical centers throughout the country.

“We are extremely pleased with the quantity and quality of nominations we received, especially given that this was the program’s inaugural year,” said Vetrovec. “Many of the most accomplished women cardiologists in the country were nominated, making it a highly competitive award and a tough decision for our award panel.”

Award Panel members included: George A. Beller, M.D., University of Virginia; Robert O. Bonow, M.D., Northwestern University; Anne B. Curtis, M.D., University of South Florida; Pamela S. Douglas, M.D., Duke University; William C. Little, M.D., Wake Forest University School of Medicine; Mary Ann Peberdy, M.D., Virginia Commonwealth University; Kiran B. Sagar, M.D., University of Wisconsin; Kim Allan Williams, M.D., University of Chicago and George W. Vetrovec, M.D., Virginia Commonwealth University.