Nanette K. Wenger

Dr. Nanette Wenger is professor of medicine, Division of Cardiology, Emory University School of Medicine. In a legendary career that spans more than 50 years, Dr. Wenger’s steadfast dedication to reducing women’s disability and death from cardiovascular disease has made her one of the country’s most-respected experts on coronary heart disease in women. In 2009, the women’s health pioneer and renowned cardiologist received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American College of Cardiology. Dr. Wenger’s association with the American College of Cardiology spans over half a century. A native of New York City and a graduate of Hunter College and the Harvard Medical School, Dr. Wenger received her medical and cardiology training at Mount Sinai Hospital before coming to Emory University School of Medicine and Grady Memorial Hospital in 1958. Since then she has been a trailblazer and icon in the field of cardiology as author and co-author of more than 1,300 scientific and review articles and book chapters. Although Dr. Wenger has earned dozens of awards in her celebrated career, perhaps her greatest professional achievement, and the one that has brought her international recognition, was changing a major paradigm in cardiology: the assumption that heart disease affects only men. A half a century ago heart disease was thought of as a “man’s disease”. Today, thanks to the pioneering clinical and research efforts of Dr. Wenger, it is known that cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of women in the United States accounting for 38 percent of all female deaths, more mortality than all forms of cancers combined. One of the main reasons for the disparity is heart disease symptoms can present differently in women than those in men. Dr. Wenger helped write the 2007 Guidelines for Preventing Cardiovascular Disease in Women.