Margaret L. Furman, MD, MPH, FACC

Margaret Furman, MD, MPH, is a cardiologist who focuses on preventive care, lipidology and statin intolerance, and women's cardiac health, as well as echocardiograms and vascular ultrasounds. She is a specialist in cardio-rheumatology, which encompasses cardiac risk assessment or treatment of cardiac conditions in patients with autoimmune inflammatory joint diseases.

“It sounds cliché, but I knew early on I wanted to be a physician—my grandfather was an old-time general practitioner,” Dr. Furman says. She initially went to medical school to become an emergency room physician, but when she was placed in cardiology as part of her first-year rotation, she fell in love with the field. “I liked developing patient relationships and having the ability to try to invoke change to help people get better and prevent a worsening of the disease,” she says.

“I always say knowledge is power,” Dr. Furman says. “We just cannot tell patients to do something. We need to give them knowledge that will motivate them to make changes. If they understand why, they are more likely to make a change for themselves.”

Dr. Furman was an American Heart Association Go Red for Women 2015 Luminary of Heart.