Dr. Wenger is Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology at the Emory University School of Medicine and a consultant to the Emory Heart and Vascular Center. Her primary clinical and research interest is coronary heart disease in women. She also has expertise in cardiac rehabilitation and a longstanding interest in geriatric cardiology.
Dr. Wenger chaired the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Conference on Cardiovascular Health and Disease in Women and the World Health Organization Expert Committee on Rehabilitation after Cardiovascular Disease. She co-chaired the Guideline Panel on Cardiac Rehabilitation for the U.S. Agency for Health Care Policy and Research.
Dr. Wenger is a Past President of the Society of Geriatric Cardiology and was Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Geriatric Cardiology for more than 15 years. She has authored/coauthored over 1500 scientific and review articles and book chapters. She has also participated as an author of several American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Clinical Practice Guidelines and serves on the editorial boards of numerous professional journals.
Dr. Wenger has received multiple awards including Physician of the Year Award of the American Heart Association (1998), Distinguished Achievement Award from the Scientific Councils of the American Heart Association and its Women in Cardiology Mentoring Award (1999), James D. Bruce Memorial Award of the American College of Physicians for distinguished contributions in preventive medicine (2000), Distinguished Fellow Award of the Society of Geriatric Cardiology (2002), the Gold Heart Award, the highest award of the American Heart Association (2004), the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American College of Cardiology (2009) and the Inaugural Distinguished Mentor Award of the American College of Cardiology (2013).
Dr. Wenger has had a legendary career and her greatest professional achievement is that she was able to change a major paradigm in cardiology: the assumption that heart disease affects only men. Her pioneering clinical and research efforts brought to light the prevalence of this disease among women.
Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of women in the U.S. and accounts for approximately 38 percent of all female deaths. According to Dr. Wenger, "One of every three women will develop heart disease and in particular coronary disease in her lifetime, so it's important that we consider lifetime risks and not just short-term risks when we try to prevent coronary disease in women." She helped write the 2007 Guidelines for Preventing Cardiovascular Disease in Women.
Dr. Wenger is a native of New York City and a graduate of Hunter College and the Harvard Medical School. She 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 played a pivotal role in the field of cardiology and has been instrumental in the area of coronary artery disease in women.
Source: Cardiology Online, Emory.edu
Image Credit: Emory.edu
