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Irene Pollin

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About Sister to Sister

The Sister to Sister Foundation, a national 501(c)(3), was founded in 2000 by Irene Pollin to prevent heart disease among women by:

• Offering women free cardiac screenings to promote early detection and treatment of heart disease
• Increasing awareness that heart disease is the #1 killer of women in the United States today
• Educating women that making healthy lifestyle changes can reduce their risk of heart disease

We focus on women’s heart health because:

• One in 4 women in the United States dies of heart disease, more than all breast cancer and all other cancers combined.
• Studies show that only a third of U.S. women consider themselves at risk for heart disease.
• Women need to know that heart attack symptoms may differ for among women and men:
  • Women are more likely to feel shortness of breath, fatigue, abdominal pressure, nausea or heartburn, or jaw, neck, back, or upper shoulder pain.
  • Men are more likely to feel chest pain or pressure, or left-arm pain.

Most importantly, women can reduce their risk for heart disease by making healthy lifestyle changes, and seeking medical treatment when necessary.

What We Do

Sister to Sister’s major activities include:

• Year-long promotional campaign involving medical, corporate, government, media, and non-profit partners
• Annual Heart Health Fairs that offer women free cardiac screenings, immediate follow-up counseling, and educational resources
• Cardiac screening events
• Family-based obesity prevention initiative
• Data collection from more than 150,000 Health Fair participants, and over 55,000 women screened to date
• International cardiac risk database and pilot outreach programs

Since our founding in 2000, Sister to Sister has impacted the lives of thousands of women by providing life-saving screenings and educational resources.

To date, we have screened more than 55,000 women for heart disease risk factors. Our accomplishments include:

• 80% of women screened at our Fairs have recognized for the first time that they are at risk for heart disease
• More than 50% of the women screened have learned that they have two or more risk factors for heart disease
• Nearly 75% of the women found to be at risk reported seeing their doctor as a follow-up to screening
• Women found to be at high risk for heart attack have been sent directly to the hospital for life-saving treatments

Who We Are

Founder and President:

Irene Pollin, MSW, PhD (Hon)

Board of Directors:

• Abe Pollin, Chairman of the Board
  Chairman, Washington Sports & Entertainment
  
  
• Dennis Cryer, MD, FAHA
  Cryer Health
  
  
• Deborah Epstein
  
  
• Steven Epstein
  Counsel
  Epstein, Becker & Green, PC
  
  
• Martha Hill, PhD, RN, FAAN
  Dean, School of Nursing
  The Johns Hopkins University
  
  
• Wanda K. Jones, DrPH (ex officio)
  Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health
  US Department of Health & Human Services
  Office on Women's Health
  
  
• Celia Maxwell, MD, FACP
  Assistant Vice President, Health Affairs
  Women's Health Institute
  Howard University
  
  
• Judith McHale
  
  
• Tina Sharkey
  Global President, BabyCenter
  Chair, BabyCenter, LLC
  
  
• Esther M. Sternberg, MD Director
  Director, Integrative Neural Immune Program
  National Institutes of Mental Health
  
  
• Dean F. Stumvoll
  National Director
  Washington National Tax, Deloitte
  
  
• Diane Simmons Williams
  
  
• Harold Zirkin
  Zirkin and Cutler Investments

Counsel:

Arent Fox, LLC

Medical Advisory Council:

• David B. Abrams, PhD
  Director, Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research
  Associate Director, National Institutes of Health
  
  
• Roger Blumenthal, MD, FACC, FCCP
  Director, Ciccarone Preventive Cardiology Center
  The Johns Hopkins University
  
  
• Harvey V. Fineberg, MD, PhD
  President, Institute of Medicine
  
  
• Sharonne N. Hayes, MD, FACC
  Director, Mayo Clinic Women’s Heart Clinic
  
  
• Suzanne S. Hurd, PhD
  Scientific Director, GOLD
  
  
• Judy Lansing Kovler, PhD
  Psychotherapist
  
  
• Marianne J. Legato, MD, FACP
  Founder and Director Partnership for Gender-Specific Medicine
  
  
• Claude J. Lenfant, MD
  
  
• Pamela M. Peeke, MD, MPH, FACP
  Chief Medical Correspondent Discovery Health Television
  
  
• Edward J. Roccella, PhD, MPH
  
  
• Rosalie Sagraves, PharmD
  Dean, Chicago College of Pharmacy University of Illinois at Chicago
  
  
• Walter Willett, MD, DrPH
  Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition
  Harvard School of Public Health

International Co-Chair:

Rima Al-Sabah
Wife of The State of Kuwait's Ambassador to the United States

Contact Us

Sister to Sister: Everyone Has A Heart Foundation, Inc.
4701 Willard Ave. Suite 223
Chevy Chase, MD 20815
Tel: 1-888-718-8033, 301-718-8033
Fax: 301-718-8620
Email: info@sistertosister.org