LOS ANGELES: Barbra Streisand has provided $5 million to endow a research and education programme on women’s heart disease at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. The hospital on April 16 announced the new Barbara Streisand Women’s Cardiovascular Research Education Program.

Dr Eduardo Marban, who directs the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, said cardiovascular disease is the nation’s leading killer of women — nearly 500,000 deaths a year — but most research on heart disease revolves around men.

Streisand said women must take a hand in reducing risks for heart disease. The new programme will conduct trials of new drugs for women, try to identify the role of gender in heart disease and work on other ways of reducing their risk.