Sex Differences in Cardiovascular Health and Disease

Xenia T. Tigno is the Associate Director for Careers at the Office of Research on Women’s Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD. Prior to her current position, she was a Program Officer at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the National Institute of Nursing Research of the NIH. A vascular biologist by training, Dr. Tigno has published in the areas of the biophysics of the microcirculation, obesity, diabetes, aging, community-based epidemiology, chaos analysis, herbal medicine, radiobiology, and women’s health. She taught medical physiology for many years, including serving as Professor and Chair of the Department of Physiology at the University of the Philippines College of Medicine, and overall coordinator of the Medical Physiology course at the University of South Florida. A native of Manila, Philippines, Dr. Tigno obtained her bachelor’s degree in physics, her master’s degrees in both Physiology and Epidemiology from the University of the Philippines, and her Doctorate in Natural Science degree (with high honors) from the University of Würzburg, Federal Republic of Germany. As a bench scientist, she has worked in various laboratories, including at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) in Geneva; at the Physiological Institutes in Wurzburg, Munich, Mainz, and Berlin; and at the National Cardiovascular Institute in Osaka. She has edited a textbook on Integrative Physiology and, in 2021, published a book for the American Physiological Society on Sex-based Differences in Lung Physiology. Dr. Tigno’s current efforts at the ORWH are focused on advancing women in biomedical careers and transforming trajectories for women scientists in STEMM.Joseph C. Wu is the Director of Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and Simon H. Stertzer, MD, Professor of Medicine and Radiology at Stanford University. Dr. Wu received his MD from Yale University and PhD (Molecular & Medical Pharmacology) from the University of California, Los Angeles.  He is board-certified in cardiovascular medicine. His lab works on genomics, stem cells/organoids, AI/ML, and drug discovery. The main goals are to (i) understand basic disease mechanisms, (ii) implement precision medicine for patients, and (iii) accelerate drug discovery via “new alternative methodologies” (NAMs) and “clinical trial in a dish” (CTiD) concept. Dr. Wu has received several awards, including the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, NIH Roadmap Transformative Award, Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) given out by President Obama at the White House, American Heart Association (AHA) Distinguished Scientist Award, AHA Merit Award, and Burroughs Wellcome Foundation Innovation in Regulatory Science Award.  He is a past President of the American Heart Association (2023-2024). Dr. Wu is an elected member or fellow of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), Association of University  Cardiologists (AUC), American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE),  American Association of Physicians (AAP), Academia Sinica (Taiwan), American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Asian American Academy of Science and Engineering  (AAASE), National Academy of Inventors (NAI), and National Academy of Medicine (NAM).

• Part I. Sex Considerations in Cardiovascular Research.- Women and Heart Disease: Understanding the Journey.- Challenges and Barriers in the Implementation of Women-Tailored Evidence-Based Interventions.- Network Medicine and Systems Biology Approaches and Women's Cardiovascular Health.- Part II. Sex-Based Differences in Cardiovascular Biology and Pathophysiology.- Sex Differences in the Anatomy and Physiology of the Cardiovascular System.- Sex Chromosome Effects on Cardiovascular Health and Disease.- Cardiovascular Effects of Sex Hormones and Their Receptors.- Sex Differences in the Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System and Sympathetic Nervous System.- Part III. Traditional Cardiovascular Risk Factors.- Sex Differences in Blood Pressure Trajectories Across the Life Course.- Sex-related Differences in Diabetes, Obesity, and Dyslipidemia as Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors.- Sex Differences in the Effects of Lifestyle Interventions on Cardiovascular Disease Risk.- Sex-Specific Considerations for Physical Activity, Diet, and Smoking.- Part IV. Female-Specific Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease.- Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors Across Reproductive Transitions: From Menarche to Menopause.- Pregnancy Complications and Long-Term Cardiovascular Risk.- Cardiometabolic and Pregnancy-Related Complications in PCOS.- Endometriosis and Its Impact on Women’s Cardiovascular Health.- Part V. Emerging Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease.- Sex-Specific Aspects of Cardiovascular Health and Disease— A Life Course Approach.- Sex Differences in Cardiovascular Risk with Obstructive Sleep Apnea.- Kidney Disease as an Emerging CVD Risk Factor: Sex-Based Aspects.- Autoimmune Disease as an Emerging CVD-Risk Factor.- Part VI. Sex-Based Differences in the Pathophysiology, Clinical Presentation, Diagnosis, and Management of CVD.- Sex Differences in Heart Failure and Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy.- Sex Differences in Cardiac Arrhythmias.- Sex Differences in Ischemic Heart Disease: A Focus on Non-Obstructive Coronary Artery Disease.- Vascular Involvement in Cognitive Impairment: Sex Differences.- Sex Differences in Peripheral Artery Disease.- Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Models as Predictive Tools to Assess Sex Differences in Cardiovascular Drug Responses.