WomenHeart announces Science & Leadership Symposium graduates for 2013

WASHINGTON — Nearly two dozen women with heart disease will educate their communities about heart disease in women.

WomenHeart, a group focused on heart disease in women, said 23 women had graduated from the WomenHeart Science & Leadership Symposium at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., to become WomenHeart Champions. The symposium is sponsored by the Medtronic Foundation, Boston Scientific, Edwards Lifesciences, Gilead, Astellas Pharma, AstraZeneca, Novartis, St. Jude Medical Foundation, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Genentech. The 2013 graduates join 628 graduates from previous years to become the "boots on the ground" to spread awareness about heart disease, the organization said; the symposium started in 2002.

"Heart disease can be a very emotionally and physically isolating condition for women," WomenHeart CEO Lisa Tate said. "WomenHeart Champions and the support networks that they build enable women to have the peer-to-peer support they need to make the lifestyle changes necessary to live a heart-healthy life."

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in women, and more women than men have died from heart disease every year since 1984, according to the group.