About the Center for Women's Heart & Vascular Health

Our Department

The Texas Heart Institute’s Center for Women’s Heart & Vascular Health (THI Women’s Center) launched in 2010 to strengthen the Institute’s focus on women. Dr. James T. Willerson invited Dr. Stephanie Coulter to establish and direct the department, and under her leadership, the Women’s Center is thriving and remains one of THI’s fastest growing programs today.

The purpose of the Women’s Center is to strengthen the Institute’s focus on women-oriented research, address the significant gender gaps that exist in cardiovascular medicine by educating women and physicians caring for women, and investigate the causes of excess cardiac risk in minority populations.

The Women’s Center has three overarching goals:

Conduct clinical research on women and heart disease
Raise awareness among Houston women and beyond
Educate doctors and nurses to better recognize the danger signs in their female patients