Welcome, Barbra Streisand, we're happy to have you here where you belong

The fight to save women from heart disease gained another voice this week and what a voice it was! You can now add songbird Barbra Streisand to the battle.

In her Huffington Post column, Streisand writes about how shocked she was to learn that heart disease is the Number One killer of American women. This doesn't shock me, though. I've been on this stump for years, ever since undergoing open-heart surgery and co-authoring "The Women's Heart Book." Bernadette Healy, then the director of the National Institutes of Health, wrote our forward. As Barbra Streisand noted, she is one of the pioneers in the field.

Since then, great strides have been made in raising awareness. When I began my first book, I could not even get accurate statistics on heart disease in women, because the American Heart Association did not make them readily available. Apparently, no one had asked before. Now, the AHA posts these numbers prominently each year, and sponsors major initiatives, like the "Go Red for Women" campaign. New organizations joined the battle, including WomenHeart, Sister to Sister and the Women's Heart Foundation. The Women's Heart Foundation sponsors Women's Heart Week (Feb. 1-7) and I established  National Women's Heart Health Day, observed each Feb. 1.

As Streisand writes, though, there is still much to do. Surveys consistently show that most women remain oblivious to the threat of heart disease. As long as this is the case, they won't be motivated to change their lifestyle, save their hearts, and save their lives.

So welcome to the charge, Barbra! Sing out, Sister, sing out!