Jan 4, 2005 – The Roy L. Schneider medical staff is inviting the public to attend a free seminar next week on heart disease in women led by nationally renowned expert, Dr. Mercedes K.C. Dullum.
According to the latest available statistics, heart disease represents one of the most serious threats to women's health in the United States.
With mortality rates a full six times higher than for breast cancer, heart disease is not only the leading cause of death among American women, but, according to the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease, when adjusted for age, African American women are 72 percent more likely to have the disease than their white counterparts.
All told, 8 million American women suffer from heart disease according to Womenheart.org, and this year, 267,000 American women will die of heart attacks as a result.
Dullum, currently surgical director at the Cleveland Clinic Florida Heart Failure Center, has worked extensively in the management of heart disease in women and specializes in beating heart surgery and minimally invasive heart surgery.
She will be joined at the seminar by Schneider Hospital's own cardiologist, Dr. Roy D. Flood. According to a hospital release, Dullum will speak on "Heart Disease in Women: New Treatments," while Flood is expected to discuss women's coronary heart disease issues.
"Women must be able to recognize the signs and symptoms of coronary disease in order to prevent it from occurring," Flood stated in the release.
The program is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 12, in Conference Room A of the hospital. Earlier in the day Dullum will present a seminar to medical, nursing and support staff at the hospital.
Born and raised in Jamaica, Dullum received her medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia, completed her surgical internship and residency at the University of Mississippi, and her residency in thoracic surgery at the George Washington University Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
During several of her years in the District, Dullum was named “top cardiac surgeon," by Washingtonian Magazine. Additionally, she serves on the editorial board of the journal, Heart Surgery Forum, and, in 2003, was elected president of Women in Thoracic Surgery through 2005.
Flood joined Schneider Hospital in August of last year after leaving Washington Hospital Center where he and Dullum had the opportunity to work together.
For more information on the seminar, call Marilyn Ayala at 776-8311, ext. 2317.
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