Spotlights
Dr. Karol Watson was drawn to medicine by the health inequities she witnessed in her own family, which persist in her daily clinical work. As a leading cardiologist and Professor at UCLA DGSOM, Director of the UCLA Women’s Cardiovascular Health Center, Director of the UCLA-Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Health Program, Co-Director of the UCLA Program in Preventive Cardiology, Director of the UCLA Fellowship Program in Cardiovascular Diseases, and principal investigator for several large National Institutes of Health research studies, she directs numerous programs tackling health disparities, particularly in women's cardiovascular health.
Racial disparities in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk are significant, with Black adults facing 1.6-2.4 times higher risk than White adults. Dr. Watson emphasizes that these disparities extend beyond CVD, impacting life expectancy disparities between Black and White Americans. She focuses her efforts on women's heart health and racial disparities in CVD risk among women.
Dr. Watson clarifies that race isn't the cause of these disparities, but rather social determinants of health (SDOH), including systemic racism, play a crucial role. Through studies like the Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study and the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, she explores these factors and aims to close racial gaps in health outcomes.
By advancing research and increasing representation of Black cardiologists, Dr. Watson strives to address not only CVD disparities but overall health and wellbeing disparities.
