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October 28, 2025
Menopause and Heart Disease: What Every Woman Needs to Know with Dr. Jayne Morgan
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What if your hot flashes are actually warning signs about your cardiovascular health? Dr. Mary Claire Haver sits down with research cardiologist Dr. Jayne Morgan to talk about the intersection of menopause and heart disease. Dr. Morgan explains why women present with different heart attack symptoms than men, how menopause accelerates cardiovascular risk, and why the medical system still isn't recognizing the connection. You'll learn what hot flashes reveal about stroke and heart disease risk, how arterial stiffening and blood pressure changes happen during the menopause transition, and why hormone therapy started early may be protective for your heart. Dr. Morgan shares which lab tests women should be getting, when to start screening for cardiovascular disease, and what lifestyle changes actually make a difference. She also discusses the role of statins, GLP-1s, and why research done primarily on men has led to treatments that may harm women. This conversation covers what every woman needs to know about protecting her heart through midlife and beyond.

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Articles

Other Resources

Chapters

00:00:00 Cold Open: “We just got it wrong.”
00:00:40 Disclaimer + Intro & Why This Conversation Matters
00:02:25 Why Medicine? Dr. Morgan’s origin story
00:05:21 Heart Disease #1 for Women & Awareness Backslide
00:07:20 Training Gaps: “Atypical” bias & panic-disorder labels
00:15:54 What Heart Attacks Look Like in Women (fatigue, GI, jaw pain)
00:19:10 Troponins & ER Delays: Different care pathways
00:22:21 Studded Plaques & Microvascular Disease in Women
00:26:40 Midlife Risk: Perimenopause as a cardiology red flag
00:29:39 Hot Flashes as a Vascular Signal (stroke/artery changes)
00:34:14 Trial Bias: When beta blockers harm women
00:37:19 Guideline Shifts: Menopause in stroke/AHA; pregnancy in cardiology
00:40:10 Statins, ApoB & Lp(a): What to measure and why
00:45:07 Hormone Therapy: Timing window & open questions
00:49:30 Coronary Calcium Scoring: What it is (and isn’t)
01:10:50 GLP-1s: Cardio benefits, tradeoffs, long-term use
01:17:22 Unpaused: Dr. Morgan’s personal shift

About the guest

Dr. Jayne Morgan

Dr. Jayne Morgan is an accomplished Cardiologist and the Vice President of Medical Affairs for Hello Heart where she has a focus on Women’s Health and AI. With both an interest in menopause and women’s well being, Dr. Morgan was recently named by MidiHealth to the 45 over 45 list of top Women’s Health experts and to Atlanta’s Top Most Powerful Leaders in 2024. A long supporter and advocate for health equity challenges with a focus on the recruitment of minority populations into clinical trials, she considers research, specifically cardiovascular research, to be her bread and butter foundation.

In fact, with an extensive background in clinical trials and cardiac research, Dr. Morgan has made significant contributions to patient care and medical advancement throughout her career. Her expertise encompasses not only the assessment and treatment of various cardiac conditions, including heart disease, arrhythmias, and heart failure, but she is also highly regarded for her exceptional skills in the interpretation of complex medical data.

Working tirelessly in the area of menopause, Women’s Heart Health, and global health access, Dr. Morgan also serves as an advisor to MidiHealth, Respin, and Micron. Previously, Dr. Morgan served as the Executive Director of Health and Community Education at the Piedmont Healthcare Corporation, located in Atlanta, GA. As the largest healthcare system in Georgia, Dr. Morgan played a pivotal role in addressing health literacy and disseminating information both within the organization, which employs 47,000 individuals, and to external stakeholders, including leading the Covid Task Force. She has published multiple papers on both Cardiology as well as Covid-19, and most recently on hypertension in menopause in the Journal of Preventive Cardiology. One of her most notable contributions was the creation of a social media series called "The Stairwell Chronicles," which provides up-to-date medical and scientific information in an easily understandable format.

Dr. Morgan's outstanding contributions have earned her several prestigious awards, including the NAACP Award, the National Women's Empowerment Award, the Atlanta Business Chronicle Award, and the Medical Association of GA Humanitarian Award to name a few. Most recently, she was awarded a Resolution by the Georgia House of Representatives recognizing her outstanding contributions to the health the wellness of Georgians. Further, she is a recognized medical expert for CNN, News Nation, CBS,  Fox News 5 in New York, and was the Health Contributor for Scripps News from 2021 – 2024. Moreover, Dr. Morgan holds an appointment as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine at The Morehouse School of Medicine, and was selected to support the Department of Health in its "Ask The Experts" series. Dr. Morgan is also the host of Women’s Health talk show called, Healthy Her and is also the host of the podcast by the same name which will debut in November 2025.

A dedicated advocate for Women’s Health and the health of all minority communities, particularly through increasing access to clinical trials, artificial intelligence, and educating the public, Dr. Morgan also serves on the Board of the Medical Association of Atlanta, Co-Chair of Communications for the Association of Black Cardiologists, and is serving on the Steering Committee for Novartis as a National Lead of the lp(a) trial program for the past 4 years. Rounding out, she has been an advisor/partner to Moderna, Pfizer, and Bayer.

Prior, Dr. Morgan held several distinguished roles, including Chief Medical Officer of the American Chemistry Council, Global Director of the Cardiorenal Division of Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, and the first African American President of the Southeast Life Sciences Association (the largest life sciences organization in the south). Additionally,  she has made substantial contributions to the Structural Heart space as the sole Cardiology advisor on the medical and research team developing the mitraclip, including protocol development, FDA registration, and European Phase IV expansion at AbbVie (formerly Abbott Labs). Further, she conceived and spearheaded the development of the first Phase I research program at Piedmont Health focused entirely on structural heart. This allowed Piedmont to move to #1 status worldwide in both the mitral and tricuspid spaces, including operations, experience, skills, and notability.

Outside of her professional endeavors, Dr. Morgan is a passionate pilates enthusiast and holds multiple pilates certifications and even runs and teaches at her very own pilates virtual school @pilateswithdrjayne. Her commitment to promoting health and well-being extends beyond her work, reflecting her holistic approach to medicine. Dr. Jayne Morgan's remarkable contributions to the field of medicine, coupled with her compassionate patient care and dedication to health equity, make her a highly esteemed physician and an invaluable asset to the medical community.