She was a young cardiologist when it happened. A female patient was sitting across from her and she looked distressed. Her tests had all come back normal. Her heart, they said, was fine. But she was exhausted and breathless. And she knew she was unwell in ways that she couldn’t name.
Finally in frustration and with tears streaming down her face, she threw up her hands and asked the one question no cardiologist had been able to answer so far: “Why can’t you explain what’s happening to me?
In this episode of Blindspot Capital, I sit down with Professor Angela Maas — pioneering cardiologist, global leader in women’s cardiovascular medicine, and author of A Woman’s Heart: Why Female Heart Health Really Matters. We talk about how that moment changed the course of her career
Together, we explore:
Why women’s heart disease often doesn’t show up on standard tests
How pregnancy complications predict lifelong cardiovascular risk
Why menopause represents a critical and largely missed prevention window
How breast cancer treatments can quietly damage the heart years later
Why cardiology, gynecology, and oncology must stop operating in silos
There are no quick fixes here, only a clearer way to see what’s been missed.
If you’ve ever been told your symptoms were “atypical”,
or you’ve moved through pregnancy or menopause without clear explanations,
or if you care about how science, medicine, and capital decide which bodies are worth designing for, then this conversation will change how you see women’s heart health.
Watch the full episode on YouTube
📄 Learn more in Angela’s book, A Woman’s Heart: Why Female Heart Health Really Matters — a definitive guide to understanding women’s cardiovascular risk across the life course
📚 Follow Professor Angela Maas on LinkedIn
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