Alice Y. Chang, M.D., M.S., and Richard J. Auchus, M.D., Ph.D.

The results of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) has raised several questions about the role of exogenous hormones in the cardiovascular system. Over the next few years, Seminars in Reproductive Medicine will address some of these issues including the cardiovascular system, bones, and the brain.

Dr. Alice Y. Chang and Dr. Richard J. Auchus have co-edited the current issue of Seminars in Reproductive Medicine, entitled “Venus and the Heart: Endocrine Influences on Cardiovascular Health in Women.” They have recruited several prominent authors addressing both the role of estrogens and androgens and the influence of the autonomic regulation on cardiovascular health. We hope the readers of this issue will find this update extremely useful and applicable to their practices.

Dr. Chang received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University and her medical degree from Yale School of Medicine. She trained in internal medicine at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and completed a fellowship in endocrinology and metabolism at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Texas. Her postdoctoral training included a cardiovascular disease fellowship with the Donald W. Reynolds Cardiovascular Clinical Research Center at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and training in clinical research design and methodology in the first class of the Clinical Research Scholars Program at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, graduating with a master's in science with distinction in clinical science.

Dr. Chang is currently funded by a career development award, the American Heart Association Fellow-to-Faculty Transition Award, for a project studying coronary atherosclerosis and cardiovascular performance in women with polycystic ovary syndrome. She has additional studies examining the effects of exercise training in women with disorders of androgen excess. Dr. Chang is currently a member of the Endocrine Society, the American Heart Association, the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance, and the American Federation of Medical Research and is a councilor for the Southern American Federation of Medical Research. Dr. Chang's clinical and research interests are aligned with the goal of better defining cardiovascular risk in women with disorders of androgen excess and the contributions of insulin resistance versus androgens in the development of cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Auchus received his S.B. in chemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his medical degree and Ph.D. in pharmacology from Washington University. He completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and a fellowship in endocrinology at the Wilford Hall USAF Hospital and the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio. He did postdoctoral work and training at the University of California, San Francisco, prior to joining the faculty at UT Southwestern in Dallas.

Dr. Auchus has been the recipient of several awards and honors such as Burroughs Wellcome Clinical Scientist Award in Translational Research and the Jean D. Wilson, M.D. Award for Excellence in Scientific Mentoring at UT Southwestern. His memberships in professional organizations include the American College of Physicians, the Endocrine Society, and the Dallas County Medical Society/Texas Medical Association. He has authored more than 100 journal articles and book chapters, and he has presented at a diverse range of national and international conferences. His group is active in research projects ranging from basic chemical principles of steroid biosynthetic enzymes to clinical and translational investigation in disorders of the pituitary, adrenals, ovaries, and testes that cause hypertension, infertility, and obesity. The common theme of all his work is steroid and sterol biosynthesis and action with an emphasis on the chemistry of human diseases. He collaborates with a range of investigators spanning a broad range of science from clinical neurobiology to molecular mechanisms regulating hormone production and action from nematodes to human beings. His clinical interests also focus on pituitary, adrenal, and reproductive diseases that involve disorders of steroid production.