The Role of Sex Hormones in Heart Disease
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What role do sex hormones play in protecting from or promoting heart disease? Dr. Carole L. Banka, MS ’74 has addressed this question using mouse models of arterial heart disease, menopause and perimenopause with some surprising answers.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of death in the United States and around the world. Controversy has surrounded the role of sex hormones in CVD for many decades. This has been especially true when considering the use of hormone therapy in postmenopausal women.
Dr. Carole L. Banka, MS ’74 will discuss her use of mouse models in determining the influence of estrogens and androgens (testosterone, for example) on arterial plaque formation (atherosclerosis), the leading cause of heart attacks and strokes. Comparing intact mice with those in which the gonads have been surgically removed, she was able to compare sex steroid-mediated changes in females, males and “menopausal” females in the absence of other variables. Using a specific chemical treatment, she and her colleagues developed the first “peri-menopause” mouse model to assess the role of sex steroids in that phase of a female’s lifespan. Finally, results from these basic science studies will be related to our current understanding of the role of sex hormones in CVD in women.
This event is part of the SPARK center seminar series. Organized in collaboration with innovationcenter@adelphi.edu and Swirbul Library.
For any questions please contact Dr. Justyna Widera-Kalinowska at 516.877.4135, or the SPARK center at spark@adelphi.edu.
About the Speaker
Carole L. Banka, MS ’74, PhD
Dr. Carole Banka received her MS from Adelphi University, her PhD from the UCSF School of Medicine, and did postdoctoral training at the UCSD School of Medicine. She has held faculty positions at the Scripps Research Institute and the La Jolla Institute for Molecular Medicine, and an Adjunct Faculty Position at Northern Arizona University. Finally, Dr. Banka retired from the Department of Medicine at UCSD in 2018. Throughout her career her research interests included questions related to reproductive medicine, cholesterol metabolism and women’s health, including heart disease, breast cancer and the biology of estrogen. Her research has been funded by grants from the NIH, the DOD breast cancer program, the American Heart Association, the California Tobacco-Related Disease Program (TRDRP) and the California Breast Cancer Research Program (CBCRP).
Dr. Banka was Director of Women’s Health Research at the La Jolla Institute for Molecular Medicine and served as the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Doris A. Howell Foundation for Women’s Health Research for three years. Dr. Banka has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal and has published more than 40 articles, editorials and book chapters. She is an author of the American Heart Association’s 2007 Evidence-based Guidelines for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in Women. She has served as a grant reviewer for the American Heart Association, the NIH, the DOD breast cancer program and the Alzheimer’s Foundation. She has published more than 40 research papers, editorials and book chapters, has served on several editorial boards and continues to review research submissions for multiple journals. She has been an invited speaker at many medical schools, as well as biotech companies and national and international conferences.