Beth Abramson

Beth Abramson, MD is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto.  She is Director of the Cardiac Prevention and Rehabilitation Centre & Women’s Cardiovascular Health in the Division of Cardiology at St. Michael’s Hospital. 

Dr. Abramson graduated from the University of Toronto medical school.  She trained in internal medicine in Toronto and completed a fellowship in clinical cardiology at the Ottawa Heart Institute.  Subsequently, she completed a research fellowhip funded by the Heart and Stroke Foundation Research Corporation of Canada.  During her research training, Dr. Abramson initially studied human congestive heart failure and subsequently focused on evaluating issues related to women and heart disease and the role of the female sex hormones on the cardiovascular system.  She has training in clinical  epidemiology and a Masters of Health Administration from the University of Toronto.  (She holds fellowships in Internal Medicine from the American College of Physicians and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in both Internal Medicine and Cardiology; she is also a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology.

In 2000, she was a primary member of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society Consensus Conference on Women and Ischemic Heart Disease and has been involved in writing guidelines on hormone replacement therapy on behalf of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society in collaboration with the Society of Gynecologists and Obstetricians of Canada and the Heart and Stroke Foundation.  In 2005, she co-chaired the Canadian Cardiovascular Consensus Conference on Peripheral Arterial Disease.  Dr. Abramson’s activities also include membership on the Admissions Committee for the University of Toronto School of Medicine. 

She spends much time educating the public on heart health and is a national spokesperson for the Heart and Stroke Foundation.  Her role in health promotion is evolving, and in 2007 was invited to become a member of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada’s Health Policy and Promotion Committee. She is on the Heart Truth Leadership Council, which is heading an awareness campaign for women and heart disease at the national level..

Key research interests:

•    Prevention of coronary disease in both sexes
•    Evaluation of women’s cardiac health needs
•    The role of female sex hormones in the cardiovascular system