December 5, 2025 • 8 mins
Dr. Nupoor Narula, MD, MSc is the Bruce Lerman Clinical Scholar, cardiologist, and Director of the Cardiology Vascular Laboratory and Women’s Heart Program at Weill Cornell Medicine. An NIH-funded physician-investigator, her clinical and research interests include genetic aortic diseases and aortic aneurysms and dissections, with a special emphasis on these conditions in women and pregnancy.
Dr. Narula recently received funding from the National Institutes of Health for her research on aortic aneurysms, and the NIH continues to fund related research in the area of women's heart health, which may signal a greater appetite to invest in, and prioritize an increasingly important clinical need. Dr. Narula details her work on cardiac risks to women, particularly during pregnancy, with Carol Massar and Alexis Christoforous on Bloomberg Businessweek Daily.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. You're listening to Bloomberg
Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Stenoveek on Bloomberg Radio.
The CDC the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reminding
us that the leading cause of death for women alexis
in the United States heart disease.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yeah, it continues to be consistently, so over sixty million
women that is forty four percent in case you want
to know in the US living with some form of
heart disease. And it might surprise you that it can
affect women at any age. She does not like an
over sixty over seventy situation. We should note heart disease
is also the leading cause of death of men in
the US.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
All right, So it is a focus for everyone who
is in medicine, and it brings us to our Bloomberg
BusinessWeek Women's Health segment. We focus on key issues and
developing technologies impacting the present and future of women's health
around the world. And you know, we touch on kind
of everybody in terms of health. Often joining us right
now is doctor Newporta. She's director of the Women's Heart
Program at while Cornell Medicine and she joins us here
(01:04):
in studio. Welcome, welcome, nice to have you here.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
It's wonderful to be here. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
I want to ask you, first of all, as a
Lexus and I just pointed out that when it comes
to heart disease, whether it's men or women, it's such
a big problem here in the US, the number one
killer and cause of death for both men and women.
What is it our diet, lack of exercise, all of
the above?
Speaker 3 (01:23):
What absolutely And you have to think about other things
as well. You know, you pointed out really nicely that
young individuals can also be affected. And I think it
goes to show that we really need to know a
lot of things about our health. We really need to
know our numbers. We need to know what our blood
pressure is early, we need to know what our cholesterol is,
we need to know what our blood sugar is. And
certainly young people may have other genetic conditions and it's
(01:44):
important to know what those genetic conditions are.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
So you're focusing on something called an aorda aneurism. I've
heard of brain aneurysms. What is an aorda aneurysm.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
It's a great question. You know, the aorda. Very recently,
just in twenty twenty four was it's identified as its
own organ, and verly and deservedly so. So it's the
largest artery of our body. It attaches to the heart.
It's actually shaped like a candy cane, and it takes blood,
blood that's pumped from the heart, and it actually transfers
it all the way to all the organs of our body,
the head, the neck, the heart itself, the liver, of
(02:14):
the intestines, the spleen, the kidney, the leg. So it's
critical for our sustenance so much so that there are physicians,
which is myself, cardiologists surgeons really dedicate their lives and
caring for individuals who have problems with the aorta, and
one of those problems is an aneurism. And an aneurysm
is essentially a dilation or bulging of that aortic wall,
(02:36):
and so it's a little bit distinct from brain aneurysm
in terms of its location, but there are individuals with
aortic aneurysms that can have brain aneurysms and vice versa.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
So you've got actually an NIH funded study that you
are doing. Tell us a little bit about that. Yeah,
so nice to hear that you are getting.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Money and continue to get my funding.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Yes, thank you, We actually recently got it, so I'm
very very grateful for such a milestone. You know, So
when individuals have aneurysms, once they really increase in size,
dangerous complications can occur. And what do I mean by that?
You know, you think of a balloon as it gets
bigger and bigger, a balloon converse the aorta. As it
gets bigger and bigger, you can have a tear in
the aorta. So now we have life saving procedures aortic
(03:16):
surgery that can be pursued to prevent these complications that occur.
I think it goes with a theme we want to
be proactive rather than reactive. And so what our grant
looks at is it combines imaging, advanced imaging and genetics
to really figure out how individuals with aortic conditions do
through time, especially those who've had that aortic surgery.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
So, I mean, I'm just hearing about this for the
first time. Aorda aneurysm are there symptoms? Is it the
kind of situation where you don't know it until it
happens because I know some of the brain aneurysms can
happen in a snap.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Yeah, absolutely, yes it is. I mean you can have
large aortic aneurysms and you may not know that you
have one until something catastrophic occurs. I think there is
a positive outlook on aspects of this.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Now.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Provider awareness is going up. Now we're doing imaging for
unrelated reasons. People are getting scans for prevention based readings.
Now we're taking very intricate family histories. Yeah, you were
going to say something saying.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
We're talking about doctor newpoort Noarula. She is director of
the Women's program at while Cornell Medicine.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
It was so funny.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
I'm trying to think who did a story where it
was The Times or that was Auce, But it was
just this idea. If you go to is It Korea,
you get scanned. You can get scan head to toe.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Every ban and I don't know if our insurance companies
would like that, and it's a.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Lot less expensive, but it's such a great.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Preventative, yes, kind of way to go about it, and
of like any kind of early problems that are out there,
why aren't we doing it?
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Is it just because it's so expensive here in the US,
it's expensive, and so I think that there is it's
so expensive because if we were all getting it the frequency.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
I don't know, it's a really good question. I think
the more we scan, the more we find. You can
find things that may not matter, but we'll go down
roads of testing. Right, So I think that it goes
to highlight a couple things family histories. Taking them from
our family is free, right. Ask your family, have they
had any sort of issues with the aorta? Has the
ortic size been measured? Have they had any sort of
(05:09):
prevention test and the aortic size come up in that test?
Did anybody die suddenly in the family? If they did,
was an autopsy done? You know, you can ask several
questions to figure out what the cause of the passing was.
So these are ways to screen. And then I always
say participate in research studies if you have the ability
to do so, because I think involvement in studies, and
women's involvement in studies is really really that's a.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Really good point. And you know, sometimes you go to
the doctor, I've been asked, you would you like to participate?
I think the first instinct is no, no, no, no,
thank you. But it really can help science overall in
general for years to come.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Absolutely, And the more science we do, the more sex
specific to college.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
But that's because I got paid.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
And some studies will still pay actually, you know, depending
on what you do. But I think the participating in
this allows us to also come up with sex specific
differences that have you know, talked on behavior.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Well let's go, yeah, let's go and hea their layer
down because you specifically are focusing to on pregnant women. Yes,
why so?
Speaker 3 (06:05):
I think pregnancy is a very delicate time in our lives. Right.
There's several changes that happen. Your heart rate changes, it
goes up, the blood pressure goes down initially, but in
the later stages of pregnancy your blood pressure rises, including
after pregnancy, the cardiac output, the pump feet, the efficiency
of our heart goes up because we're supplying blood to
ourself but also the placenta. And then you have all
the hormonal changes that occur estrogen progesterone, and these can
(06:27):
actually change the microstructure of the wall. So if you
think of women who already have underlying aneurysms and then
you add in all of these changes, these women are
in a more vulnerable state. So I think understanding what
they have, their condition, instituting appropriate surveillance and thereby appropriate management,
allows us to take women through pregnancy safely.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Your advice to maybe a pregnant woman hearing this, or
someone who has a pregnant person in their life and
they want to be proactive, what's your advice to them?
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Know your numbers, really know your numbers. Know all of
your numbers. We very rightly talk about blood pressure, cholesterol,
blood sugar. You should also know if you've had a
skin what is the aortic size, and also know your
family history. Two big things to take away. We always
need to be proactive rather than reactive in as many
ways as well.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Is it more likely for a pregnant woman to have
an aortic aneurysm.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
So it's not that the pregnancy will cause the aneurism.
It's that a woman may have an aneurism, and during
pregnancy it is possible that that aneurism may grow a
little bit in size.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
I also, before we let you go, I was reading
an article recently in the Times about the signs of
a heart attack and they're not always the outward Oh
I'm holding my chest, you know, shortness of breath. And
there was one doctor who did some research in India
who was saying, you know, it could if you look
at blood pressure through the years, if your blood pressure
seems to oscillate a lot, that could be a signal.
(07:50):
Is that true?
Speaker 1 (07:51):
You know?
Speaker 3 (07:51):
I mean I think listen, I think anybody can have
any sort of manifestation, right, So when you even think
about blood pressure, in what environment are we measuring our
blood pressure?
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Is it at home?
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Is it in the doctor's office. So certainly you know
there are changes in blood pressure, changes and heart rate,
and then there are symptoms, but there can be atypical symptoms,
not the classic symptoms that we see. And so I
think if anything feels unusual, bring that to your provider.
That's your time to always talk about it.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
You know your body the best, Like if something's going right.
I have a feeling we're just sending a ton of
people to doctors and taking and getting getting their measurements. Doctor,
thank you so much, really appreciate it. Thanks for having
me enjoyed it. Doctor Newpoor Nrula. She's director of the
Women's Heart Program at while Cornell Medicine. Right here in
studio
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. You're listening to Bloomberg
Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Stenoveek on Bloomberg Radio.
The CDC the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reminding
us that the leading cause of death for women alexis
in the United States heart disease.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yeah, it continues to be consistently, so over sixty million
women that is forty four percent in case you want
to know in the US living with some form of
heart disease. And it might surprise you that it can
affect women at any age. She does not like an
over sixty over seventy situation. We should note heart disease
is also the leading cause of death of men in
the US.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
All right, So it is a focus for everyone who
is in medicine, and it brings us to our Bloomberg
BusinessWeek Women's Health segment. We focus on key issues and
developing technologies impacting the present and future of women's health
around the world. And you know, we touch on kind
of everybody in terms of health. Often joining us right
now is doctor Newporta. She's director of the Women's Heart
Program at while Cornell Medicine and she joins us here
(01:04):
in studio. Welcome, welcome, nice to have you here.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
It's wonderful to be here. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
I want to ask you, first of all, as a
Lexus and I just pointed out that when it comes
to heart disease, whether it's men or women, it's such
a big problem here in the US, the number one
killer and cause of death for both men and women.
What is it our diet, lack of exercise, all of
the above?
Speaker 3 (01:23):
What absolutely And you have to think about other things
as well. You know, you pointed out really nicely that
young individuals can also be affected. And I think it
goes to show that we really need to know a
lot of things about our health. We really need to
know our numbers. We need to know what our blood
pressure is early, we need to know what our cholesterol is,
we need to know what our blood sugar is. And
certainly young people may have other genetic conditions and it's
(01:44):
important to know what those genetic conditions are.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
So you're focusing on something called an aorda aneurism. I've
heard of brain aneurysms. What is an aorda aneurysm.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
It's a great question. You know, the aorda. Very recently,
just in twenty twenty four was it's identified as its
own organ, and verly and deservedly so. So it's the
largest artery of our body. It attaches to the heart.
It's actually shaped like a candy cane, and it takes blood,
blood that's pumped from the heart, and it actually transfers
it all the way to all the organs of our body,
the head, the neck, the heart itself, the liver, of
(02:14):
the intestines, the spleen, the kidney, the leg. So it's
critical for our sustenance so much so that there are physicians,
which is myself, cardiologists surgeons really dedicate their lives and
caring for individuals who have problems with the aorta, and
one of those problems is an aneurism. And an aneurysm
is essentially a dilation or bulging of that aortic wall,
(02:36):
and so it's a little bit distinct from brain aneurysm
in terms of its location, but there are individuals with
aortic aneurysms that can have brain aneurysms and vice versa.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
So you've got actually an NIH funded study that you
are doing. Tell us a little bit about that. Yeah,
so nice to hear that you are getting.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Money and continue to get my funding.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Yes, thank you, We actually recently got it, so I'm
very very grateful for such a milestone. You know, So
when individuals have aneurysms, once they really increase in size,
dangerous complications can occur. And what do I mean by that?
You know, you think of a balloon as it gets
bigger and bigger, a balloon converse the aorta. As it
gets bigger and bigger, you can have a tear in
the aorta. So now we have life saving procedures aortic
(03:16):
surgery that can be pursued to prevent these complications that occur.
I think it goes with a theme we want to
be proactive rather than reactive. And so what our grant
looks at is it combines imaging, advanced imaging and genetics
to really figure out how individuals with aortic conditions do
through time, especially those who've had that aortic surgery.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
So, I mean, I'm just hearing about this for the
first time. Aorda aneurysm are there symptoms? Is it the
kind of situation where you don't know it until it
happens because I know some of the brain aneurysms can
happen in a snap.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Yeah, absolutely, yes it is. I mean you can have
large aortic aneurysms and you may not know that you
have one until something catastrophic occurs. I think there is
a positive outlook on aspects of this.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Now.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Provider awareness is going up. Now we're doing imaging for
unrelated reasons. People are getting scans for prevention based readings.
Now we're taking very intricate family histories. Yeah, you were
going to say something saying.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
We're talking about doctor newpoort Noarula. She is director of
the Women's program at while Cornell Medicine.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
It was so funny.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
I'm trying to think who did a story where it
was The Times or that was Auce, But it was
just this idea. If you go to is It Korea,
you get scanned. You can get scan head to toe.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Every ban and I don't know if our insurance companies
would like that, and it's a.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Lot less expensive, but it's such a great.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Preventative, yes, kind of way to go about it, and
of like any kind of early problems that are out there,
why aren't we doing it?
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Is it just because it's so expensive here in the US,
it's expensive, and so I think that there is it's
so expensive because if we were all getting it the frequency.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
I don't know, it's a really good question. I think
the more we scan, the more we find. You can
find things that may not matter, but we'll go down
roads of testing. Right, So I think that it goes
to highlight a couple things family histories. Taking them from
our family is free, right. Ask your family, have they
had any sort of issues with the aorta? Has the
ortic size been measured? Have they had any sort of
(05:09):
prevention test and the aortic size come up in that test?
Did anybody die suddenly in the family? If they did,
was an autopsy done? You know, you can ask several
questions to figure out what the cause of the passing was.
So these are ways to screen. And then I always
say participate in research studies if you have the ability
to do so, because I think involvement in studies, and
women's involvement in studies is really really that's a.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Really good point. And you know, sometimes you go to
the doctor, I've been asked, you would you like to participate?
I think the first instinct is no, no, no, no,
thank you. But it really can help science overall in
general for years to come.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Absolutely, And the more science we do, the more sex
specific to college.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
But that's because I got paid.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
And some studies will still pay actually, you know, depending
on what you do. But I think the participating in
this allows us to also come up with sex specific
differences that have you know, talked on behavior.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Well let's go, yeah, let's go and hea their layer
down because you specifically are focusing to on pregnant women. Yes,
why so?
Speaker 3 (06:05):
I think pregnancy is a very delicate time in our lives. Right.
There's several changes that happen. Your heart rate changes, it
goes up, the blood pressure goes down initially, but in
the later stages of pregnancy your blood pressure rises, including
after pregnancy, the cardiac output, the pump feet, the efficiency
of our heart goes up because we're supplying blood to
ourself but also the placenta. And then you have all
the hormonal changes that occur estrogen progesterone, and these can
(06:27):
actually change the microstructure of the wall. So if you
think of women who already have underlying aneurysms and then
you add in all of these changes, these women are
in a more vulnerable state. So I think understanding what
they have, their condition, instituting appropriate surveillance and thereby appropriate management,
allows us to take women through pregnancy safely.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Your advice to maybe a pregnant woman hearing this, or
someone who has a pregnant person in their life and
they want to be proactive, what's your advice to them?
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Know your numbers, really know your numbers. Know all of
your numbers. We very rightly talk about blood pressure, cholesterol,
blood sugar. You should also know if you've had a
skin what is the aortic size, and also know your
family history. Two big things to take away. We always
need to be proactive rather than reactive in as many
ways as well.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Is it more likely for a pregnant woman to have
an aortic aneurysm.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
So it's not that the pregnancy will cause the aneurism.
It's that a woman may have an aneurism, and during
pregnancy it is possible that that aneurism may grow a
little bit in size.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
I also, before we let you go, I was reading
an article recently in the Times about the signs of
a heart attack and they're not always the outward Oh
I'm holding my chest, you know, shortness of breath. And
there was one doctor who did some research in India
who was saying, you know, it could if you look
at blood pressure through the years, if your blood pressure
seems to oscillate a lot, that could be a signal.
(07:50):
Is that true?
Speaker 1 (07:51):
You know?
Speaker 3 (07:51):
I mean I think listen, I think anybody can have
any sort of manifestation, right, So when you even think
about blood pressure, in what environment are we measuring our
blood pressure?
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Is it at home?
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Is it in the doctor's office. So certainly you know
there are changes in blood pressure, changes and heart rate,
and then there are symptoms, but there can be atypical symptoms,
not the classic symptoms that we see. And so I
think if anything feels unusual, bring that to your provider.
That's your time to always talk about it.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
You know your body the best, Like if something's going right.
I have a feeling we're just sending a ton of
people to doctors and taking and getting getting their measurements. Doctor,
thank you so much, really appreciate it. Thanks for having
me enjoyed it. Doctor Newpoor Nrula. She's director of the
Women's Heart Program at while Cornell Medicine. Right here in
studio
Hosts And Creators
Tim Stenovec
Carol Massar
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