C.Noel Bairey Merz, MD

Director, Preventative and Rehabilitative Cardiac Center

Director, Women's Heart Center
Email:noel.baireymerz@cshs.org
Phone:(310) 423-9680
Fax:(310) 423-9681

Institute Affiliation

Heart Institute

Academic Appointments

Professor, Medicine

Awards and Activities

Member, NHLBI Council2008
Member, National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP)2002
Member, Board of Trustees, American College of Cardiology2002
Women's Guild Chair in Women's Health1998

Research Focus

Heart Disease in Women; Preventive Cardiology; Coronary Physiology/Pathophysiology; Advanced Cardiac Imaging; Alternative/Complementary Medicine Approaches to Heart Disease

Research Contributions

Discovery of potential methods for more effective diagnosis and evaluation of coronary artery disease in women, including microvascular coronary dysfunction, and the effectiveness of complementary medicine practice of traditional acupuncture for the prevention of acute cardiac events in coronary heart disease patients.

Current investigations include:

Effects of Traditional Acupuncture on Heart Disease. Reproductive Hormones and Pre-Clinical CVD. Study of Aldosterone Blockade in Women with heart disease. Cardiac MRI. Coronary Microvascular Disease and Endothelial Function. Estrogen Levels and Heart Disease.

Selected Publications

  1. Bairey Merz CN, Shaw LJ, Reis SE, Bittner V, Kelsey SF, Olson M, Johnson BD, Pepine CJ, Mankad S, Sharaf BL, Rogers WJ, Pohost GM, Lerman A, Quyyumi AA, Sopko G, : Insights from the NHLBI-Sponsored Women's Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation (WISE) Study: Part II: gender differences in presentation, diagnosis, and outcome with regard to gender-based pathophysiology of atherosclerosis and macrovascular and microvascular coronary disease. J. Am. Coll. Cardiol., 47(3 Suppl): S21-9, 2006
  2. Shaw LJ, Bairey Merz CN, Azziz R, Stanczyk FZ, Sopko G, Braunstein GD, Kelsey SF, Kip KE, Cooper-Dehoff RM, Johnson BD, Vaccarino V, Reis SE, Bittner V, Hodgson TK, Rogers W, Pepine CJ: Postmenopausal women with a history of irregular menses and elevated androgen measurements at high risk for worsening cardiovascular event-free survival: results from the National Institutes of Health--National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute sponsored Women's Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab., 93(4): 1276-84, 2008
  3. Shaw LJ, Merz CN, Pepine CJ, Reis SE, Bittner V, Kip KE, Kelsey SF, Olson M, Johnson BD, Mankad S, Sharaf BL, Rogers WJ, Pohost GM, Sopko G, : The economic burden of angina in women with suspected ischemic heart disease: results from the National Institutes of Health--National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute--sponsored Women's Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation. Circulation, 114(9): 894-904, 2006
  4. Johnson BD, Shaw LJ, Pepine CJ, Reis SE, Kelsey SF, Sopko G, Rogers WJ, Mankad S, Sharaf BL, Bittner V, Bairey Merz CN: Persistent chest pain predicts cardiovascular events in women without obstructive coronary artery disease: results from the NIH-NHLBI-sponsored Women's Ischaemia Syndrome Evaluation (WISE) study. Eur. Heart J., 27(12): 1408-15, 2006
  5. Handberg E, Johnson BD, Arant CB, Wessel TR, Kerensky RA, von Mering G, Olson MB, Reis SE, Shaw L, Bairey Merz CN, Sharaf BL, Sopko G, Pepine CJ: Impaired coronary vascular reactivity and functional capacity in women: results from the NHLBI Women's Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation (WISE) Study. J. Am. Coll. Cardiol., 47(3 Suppl): S44-9, 2006