What do you do for a living?

I am a cardiac surgeon working in an academic centre (Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal). My practice focuses on valvular (transcatheter and surgical) and complex aortic surgeries. I have a specific interest in sex-based differences in cardiovascular pathologies.

I am the co-founder of an integrated women's cardiovascular health centre in Montreal, CardioF. We follow women with specific cardiovascular diseases clinically and in research.

What is your interest in women’s heart health and what made you decide to pursue a career related to it?

Many differences exist between men and women in terms of risk factors, diagnosis, clinical presentation, treatments, follow-up and research. Many gaps remain. In 2023, women continue to die or have complications twice as much following a cardiovascular event. This is worrisome and it deserves to be investigated more in order to understand these differences. Also, across their lifespan, women have specific risk factors related to specific life events such as pregnancy, and its complications, menopause (with or without hormonotherapy) or others such as fertility treatment, breast cancer requiring radiotherapy, etc. It is important and of utmost importance to understand the impact of these “non-traditional” risk factors on cardiovascular diseases.

Our implication as women physicians in clinics and research is important to me and necessary. We need to develop research projects made for women and encourage women to participate in those projects as they usually represent 30% of the entire cohort of participants in the current regular studies and we need to stop to extrapolate results from studies performed majority in men to women.

What was your career path that got you to your current position?

I am a woman working in a man’s world and I want to make this difference for the women that I treat.

Where do you see yourself in the next 5-10 years?

Same place, but with more information in my tool kit to treat women with cardiovascular diseases.

What advice would you share with someone in high school (or college/university) looking to pursue a career in women’s heart health?

Find your passion and work through it and if possible, try to make a difference in your field. Also, it is important to work and collaborate with other people who share common interests as we are stronger together.

With the CWHHA, we are trying the break the glass ceiling and join forces to understand women's cardiovascular health diseases and share our knowledge with other health professionals and the general population, especially women to help them empower themselves to take action for their cardiovascular health.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Dream big :)