Louis Papa, MD
Primary Care Physician
Partner, Olsan Medical Group
Strong Health
Rochester, NY

Louis J. Papa M.D., FACP is board certified in Internal Medicine and is a primary care physician and partner at Olsan Medical Group.  He is an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Rochester, where he helps educate internal medicine residents on primary outpatient care. In 1989, Dr. Papa graduated from the State University of New York at Stony Brook School of Medicine and came to Rochester to complete his residency at Strong Memorial Hospital where he is currently an attending physician. Dr. Papa is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, a former Delegate for the Young Physicians Section representing New York State to the American Medical Association, and was named by his peers to "Best Doctors in America" in 2001.  He was selected by "Rochester Business Journal" as one of the "Forty under Forty" young community leaders in 2001 and was named as one of only 25 physicians under 40 years old nationally to receive the "Excellence in Medicine Award" from the American Medical Association Foundation for leadership in 2003. Dr. Papa is involved in a number of medical, civic and community activities and boards including his role as a board member of the largest health foundation in Upstate New York - the Greater Rochester Healthcare Foundation, volunteer work with the uninsured, as a New York Council member for the American College of Physicians and is a past President of his local medical society.

Kathy Kastan, LCSW, MAEd
Social Worker
Immediate Past President, WomenHeart
Cordova, TN

Kathy Kastan, LCSW/MAEd, is Immediate Past President of the Board of Directors of WomenHeart; a national organization dedicated to reducing death and disability among women living with heart disease. Ms. Kastan is the Immediate Past Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Northwest Region of the American Heart Association. As a bypass survivor at age 42, Ms. Kastan understands the unique perspectives and challenges of women living with heart disease. In speaking with women's groups, the media, health care providers and political leaders across the country about heart disease, Ms. Kastan urges women to know their risk factors for heart disease and insist that their doctors partner with them in their health care and treat them seriously.

Ms. Kastan holds an MSW and MAEd from Washington University in St. Louis and is a certified LCSW and licensed family mediator. She has more than 14 years of clinical experience in hospital and private settings, specializing in individual, family and group therapy for children, adolescents and adults.

Ms. Kastan's first book "From the Heart: A Woman's Guide to Living Well with Heart Disease" was published March 30, 2007 by Da Capo Lifelong Books-a member of the Perseus Books Group. The paperback edition was published in January of 2008. WomenHeart's All Heart Family Cookbook was also published in January of 2008 and Ms. Kastan is a co-author.

Most importantly, Ms. Kastan has been married for 27 years and has 3 wonderful boys ages 21, 18 and 16. She resides in Memphis, Tennessee.

Kim Kachmann-Geltz
Patient, Coronary Microvascular Disease
Hilton Head, SC

Kim Kachmann-Geltz earned an undergraduate degree in Political Science, English and Spanish from Indiana University, and a graduate degree in American Studies from Columbia University in New York, New York. After college, she was a legislative assistant to the U.S. Judiciary Committee and two congressmen.
 
As director of the health care advocacy group, SpeakOutUSA, Kim Kachmann-Geltz interviewed and filmed adults and children with life-threatening health conditions and presented her findings to members of Congress in a nationally-covered hearing on Capitol Hill.
 
In 1996, Kim joined America Online, Inc. where she was director of AOL International Content & Programming. Kim taught best practices to AOL's joint ventures in South America, Europe, and Pacific Asia. She is a spokesperson for WomenHeart.org and the American Heart Association. Kim is the author of Welcome to Your MindBody and the upcoming book, The Secret of No Dieting.

Noel Bairey Merz, MD
Director Women's Heart Center
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Los Angeles, CA

C. Noel Bairey Merz, M.D., current position Director of the Women's Heart Center, Director of the Preventive Cardiac Center and Women's Guild Endowed Chair in Women's Health, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. She is Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles School.  Research interests: include women and heart disease, mental stress and heart disease, the role of exercise and stress management in reversing disease, and the role of nutrition in heart disease. Currently, she is chair of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-sponsored WISE (Women's Ischemic Syndrome Evaluation) initiative, which is investigating potential methods for more effective diagnosis and evaluation of coronary artery disease in women.  Dr. Bairey Merz has received investigational grants from the NIH-National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), NIH-National Center for Alternative and Complementary Medicine (NCCAM), the Pfeiffer Foundation, and the American Heart Association (AHA).

Matthew Burg, PhD
Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine
Columbia University Medical Center
New York, NY

Clinical Health Psychologist
Specialist in Cardiovascular Behavioral Medicine

Dr. Burg is Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine in the Section of Cardiovascular Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine, and in the Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health at Columbia University Medical Center.  He received his doctoral degree from West Virginia University in 1984 and completed a subsequent postdoctoral fellowship in cardiovascular behavioral medicine at Duke University.  He is a licensed Clinical Psychologist whose research and clinical work focuses on the contribution of stress and emotion to cardiovascular disease.  His areas of special interest include how stress leads to the development of heart disease, and most specifically contributes to the expression of disease, such as myocardial ischemia or cardiac arrhythmia.

Gladys Velarde, MD
Director, Women's Heart Program
Strong Heart and Vascular Center
Rochester, NY

Dr. Velarde is the Director of the Women's Heart Program at the Strong Heart and Vascular Center. She is Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine.  Dr.Velarde received her medical degree from New York University School of Medicine. She completed her residency at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and fellowships in cardiology at Boston University and Mt. Sinai Hospitals. She is board certified in cardiovascular disease.
 
Dr. Velarde's practice stresses preventive care for women (and men) at risk for cardiovascular disease and early detection of cardiac-related problems. The Women's Heart Center is unique, comprised entirely of female physicians, nurse practitioners and support staff, offering  specialties from all areas of cardiology, as well as heart surgery and vascular surgery.
 
In addition to clinical care, her research interests include assessment of novel markers of cardiovascular disease in women with the metabolic syndrome. Currently she is the principal investigator of the PINK (Prothrombotic, INflammatory marKers) study, the first women-only study in female patients with the metabolic syndrome. The study focuses on blood markers that may put women with this syndrome at higher risk for cardiovascular events.