Women’s Cardiovascular Services

Why choose UCLA Health for women’s cardiovascular services?

The UCLA Health Women’s Cardiovascular Center offers specialized care for women with heart disease. Women often present with different heart disease symptoms than men, so it’s important to provide targeted, personalized care.

Patients who come to the UCLA Health Women’s Cardiovascular Center benefit from:

Coordinated, convenient care: We offer comprehensive cardiovascular care to women in one convenient location. Our specialists may work with women on lifestyle changes and heart disease prevention or coordinate a heart disease treatment plan.

Multispecialty approach: Multiple experts work together to help women manage all aspects of cardiovascular health. We even have specialists who are experts in health factors that are not easily measured, such as stress, mood, sleep and relationships.

World-class expertise: Our care team includes experts in specific areas of cardiovascular health. For example, we have physicians who specialize in heart failure, disorders of the heart’s blood vessels and heart disease during pregnancy.

Our areas of care

We serve patients through multiple programs and services within the Women’s Cardiovascular Center. All of our services build upon our four CORE components:

Clinical care
Outreach
Research
Education

We care for women through an array of programs and services, including:

Clinical services

Women may come directly to the center for a cardiovascular health assessment. Our specialists create heart disease prevention plans, including nutrition and exercise improvements, smoking cessation, stress reduction and more. We also offer a range of imaging services and minimally invasive treatments, as well as a support group for women who have heart disease .

Cardiopulmonary rehabilitation

Our cardiopulmonary rehabilitation team uses a comprehensive approach to care and personalizes treatment to each patient. The team includes:

Certified exercise specialists
Exercise physiologists
Registered nurses
Respiratory therapists

Community programs

Our community programs fulfill our CORE components of outreach, research and education. Some of these programs include:

A Taste of Health: The aim of this program is to share healthy eating and dietary habits for heart health. We offer group cooking classes and cooking demonstrations while discussing the science behind how food choices affect heart health.

ECHO Heart Health SMS: This program began as a research project to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected stress and heart health. We aim to help people understand how physical activity, nutrition, social health, stress management and mental health all affect cardiovascular risks.

Let’s Talk: Let’s Talk is a way to share information and resources for better heart health. We host multiple informational seminars to raise awareness of heart disease in women. Heart disease is the number one cause of death among women and men.

Let’s Talk; Heart, Body & Soul: This annual event launched in 2017. Each year, we host a day packed with expert-led presentations focused on heart health, preventive measures, stress reduction, mindful living and more.

Research That Matters: This series of presentations began in 2014. In each presentation, we highlight recent and important research discoveries.

Teen Heart Health: This program teaches healthy eating habits. Teen Heart Health is led by teens, inspired by teens and aims to educate teens about cardiovascular health.

UCLA Health Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Health Program

This comprehensive cardiovascular program provides education for women who have or are at risk for heart disease. Through this program, we also conduct research and offer community education through a series of public forums.

UCLA Health Ornish Lifestyle Medicine Program

The Ornish Lifestyle Medicine Program is the only scientifically proven program to stop the progression and even reverse the effects of heart disease. It is so effective that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid has made the program available under a benefit category called “intensive cardiac rehabilitation programs.” Participating in the program can reduce how many daily medications patients need and lowers the risk of needing repeat procedures.

Conditions we treat

We specialize in caring for women with any type of heart disease, including:

Arrhythmias: A condition in which the electrical impulses that control the heartbeat don’t work properly, leading to a fast, slow or irregular heart rhythm

Cardiomyopathy: Thickening of the heart muscle that makes it hard for the heart to pump blood efficiently

Congenital heart disease: Any problem with the heart’s structure that exists at birth

Coronary artery disease (CAD): Plaque buildup in the arteries that send oxygen-rich blood to the heart

Heart disorders during pregnancy: Any heart problems that exist before or develop during pregnancy

Heart failure: A progressive condition in which the heart muscle doesn’t pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs

Peripheral artery disease: A disorder in which arteries anywhere outside the brain and heart narrow or spasm, blocking adequate blood flow

Meet our team

Our specialists are experts in both cardiovascular and women’s health. We understand the unique needs of women and aim to help women improve their heart health and overall wellness.