Home | About
Us
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
Board of Directors:
- Irene Pollin, MSW, Dr. of Humanities
Founder and Chairman
- Ann-Marie McGowan
Interim Executive Director
- Deborah Epstein
Vice President
Counsel:
Arent Fox, LLC
Directors
- Dennis R. Cryer, MD, FAHA
Chief Medical Officer
- Mrs. Sue Greenberg
- Aniko Gaal Schott
- Irene Pollin, MSW, PhD (Hon)
Chair
- Steven Epstein
Counsel
Epstein, Becker & Green, PC
- Wanda K. Jones, Dr. P.H
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health
US Dept. of Health & Human Services
Office on Women’s Health
- Celia Maxwell, MD, FACP
Assistant Vice President, Health Sciences
Howard University Women’s Health Institute
- Esther M. Sternberg, MD
Director, Integrative Neural Immune Program
National Institutes of Mental Health
- Dianne Simmons Williams
Former First Lady of the District of Columbia
- Pennie Abramson
- Fariba Jahanbani
Regional Director
Cartier, Inc.
- Harold Zirkin, Treasurer
Zirkin & Cutler Investments
- Mary Davis
President of Employee & Administrative Services
Washington Sports & Entertainment
Medical Advisory Council:
- David B. Abrams, PhD
Executive Director, Steven A. Schroeder National Institute for Tobacco Research and Policy Studies
The American Legacy Foundation
- 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
- Martha Hill, PhD, RN, FAAN
Dean, School of Nursing
The Johns Hopkins University
- 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
Former Coordinator, National High Blood Pressure Education Program
National Institutes of Health
- 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 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
