Cedar-Sinai Medical Center
Presentation Abstract
Roundtable on Cardiovascular Risks and Interventions
Cardiovascular disease comprises the leading cause of maternal death in the peripartum and postpartum first year period. Within these events, Black women and other minorities are at higher risk than White women for cardiovascular events. Cardiovascular risk factors alone contribute to increased risk of a complicated pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum period. However, there is an intersection between the traditional cardiovascular risk factors and social determinants of health that exponentially increases this risk. The session will spotlight advances in the understanding and treatment of peripartum cardiomyopathy and will include a patient sharing her personal experience with maternal cardiovascular complications. The subsequent cardiovascular roundtable will address pre-pregnancy and pregnancy risk factors, the intersection and interplay between cardiovascular risk and social determinants of health, and the cardiovascular events that may occur in the pre, peri, and postpartum period. The session will conclude with an open dialogue among the expert discussants.
About Dr. Minissian
Dr. Margo B. Minissian is the Executive Director at Geri and Richard Brawerman Nursing Institute and the Simms/Mann Family Foundation Endowed Chair in Nurse Education, Innovation, and Research. She is a Faculty Research Scientist, Assistant Professor of Cardiology at the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Dr. Minissian holds National Board Certifications as a Nurse Executive-Advanced and as an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner from the American Nurses Credentialing Center. She is also Nationally Board Certified as a Clinical Lipid Specialist from the Accreditation Council for Clinical Lipidology.
As a prevention scientist, Dr. Minissian has a strong interest in protecting health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. She and her team of co-investigators are enrolling registered nurses in the study, “The Coronavirus Risk Associations and Longitudinal Evaluation-Nurses Surveillance Study (CORALE-NS),” which serves as a biorepository for serial antibody testing and additional biologic testing as well as psychologic measures in health care workers. She and her team have published on the best practices developed by nurses during COVID-19 as well as antibody testing among health care workers.
Dr. Minissian is the Director of the Postpartum Heart Health Program, Registry, and Biorepository, which has been designed to help identify, risk stratify, and treat women who experience adverse pregnancy outcomes. Her National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded study, “Is Spontaneous Preterm Delivery Associated with Clustering of Maternal Cardiovascular Risk MarkErs and Impaired Vascular Function? The SPACE Study” received many awards including the American Heart Association Western States Affiliate Summer 2014 Predoctoral Fellowship, an NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Predoctoral Fellowship, and the American Nurses Foundation Nurse Scholar Fellowship. Dr. Minissian also competed in the American College of Cardiology Young Investigator Award as the first PhD nurse and was first runner up with her preterm delivery work in the Clinical Cardiology Competition. In 2019, Dr. Minissian was funded the prestigious K99R00 NIH award titled, “Is Spontaneous Preterm Delivery and Preeclampsia Associated with Vascular or Cardiac Dysfunction” to continue her work in adverse pregnancy outcomes and future cardiovascular disease risk in women. She is currently conducting this 5-year study to evaluate vascular and cardiac function in women who experience an adverse pregnancy outcome.
Dr. Minissian completed her biological research Ph.D. at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Nursing, was a UCLA Dean’s Scholar Fellow, and a UCLA Regents Scholar. She is published in 50 peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Women's Health, Nurse Leader, the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and Circulation. Dr. Minissian has a passion for education and has contributed towards the design of national educational programs and has spoken at many professional organizations nation-wide discussing the epidemic of women and heart disease, adverse pregnancy outcomes, and dyslipidemia complicated by statin myalgias. In addition, Dr. Minissian was co-author of the 2017 Focused Update of the 2016 American College of Cardiology (ACC) Expert Consensus Decision Pathway on the Role of Non-Statin Therapies for LDL-Cholesterol Lowering in the Management of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk and most recently published the 2022 update. Dr. Minissian also served on the ACC/American Heart Association Secondary Prevention Guidelines in which she chaired the smoking cessation section. Dr. Minissian was a member of the ACC scientific planning steering committee from 2014-2018.
As a passionate patient advocate, Dr. Minissian was the first nurse to receive the Outstanding Advocate of the Year Award by the ACC and the Coalition to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Cardiovascular Outcomes (CREDO) Award. She was the National Chair for nurses, physician assistants, and pharmacists for 7 years as the Chair of the Cardiovascular Team Council for the ACC, in which she was an important nursing voice on Capitol Hill. For her years of service to the ACC, Dr. Minissian was presented with the ACC Distinguished Associate Award, which is the highest honor a scientist/nurse can receive.
Dr. Minissian did not disclose any conflicts of interest for this workshop.