Area of Expertise: Neurology
Cheryl D. Bushnell, MD, MHS
Director of the Wake Forest Baptist Stroke Center
Education Associate Professor, Neurology
Dr. Bushnell is an expert on stroke and stroke prevention and has done groundbreaking research that looked at women who experience migraines during pregnancy. She is the lead author of the first guidelines for the prevention of stroke in women. The research was published in American Heart Association’s journal, Stroke.
She is researching sex differences in subclinical vascular disease in midlife, with a special emphasis on differences occurring with menopause. She is also the director of the Transition Coaching for Stroke (TRACS) Program, which seeks to improve the transition of stroke patients from the hospital to home.
Area of Expertise: Women's Health
Andrea S. Fernandez, MD
Associate Professor; Section Head, Section on General Obstetrics and Gynecology
In 2009, Dr. Fernandez successfully performed laparoscopic total hysterectomy requiring only one incision. Wake Forest Baptist is the first in western North Carolina to do the single-incision procedure. She also specializes in adolescent gynecology, obstetrics, endometriosis, uterine bleeding, and menopause management. Her research interests are in hypertensive disorders and pre-eclampsia, polycystic ovarian syndrome, menopausal therapies, menstrual irregularities and obesity.
Faculty Profile, Research and PublicationsArea of Expertise: Women's Health
Oona L. O'Neill, MD
Assistant Professor; Section on General Obstetrics and Gynecology
Dr. O'Neill specializes in genital prolapse, gynecologic surgery, obstetrics, minimally invasive surgery, endocrine/menopausal management, infertility, gynecology, and menopause management.
Area of Expertise: Pathology - Social Stress
Area of Expertise: Psychiatry - Research
Carol A. Shively, PhD
Professor, Pathology - Comparative Medicine
Shively investigates social stress effects on health, particularly women's health, including heart disease, obesity and depression, using non-human primate models. Her research focuses on how social stress, particularly the stress of low social status, increases the risk of coronary heart disease, depression, metabolic syndrome, obesity, and endometrial cancer. She uses non-invasive brain imaging to learn more about the brain mechanisms behind disease. She received the National Association for Women’s Health award for “Excellence in Research” and is listed in both Who’s Who of American Women and International Who’s Who. She has authored or co-authored more than 70 research papers.
Area of Expertise: Nutrition - Public Health
Mara Z. Vitolins, MPH, DPH
Professor and Interim Chair -Department of Epidemiology and Prevention, Division of Public Health Sciences
Vitolins is a nutrition researcher and a registered dietitian whose studies focus on lifestyle interventions for chronic diseases, especially for heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity. She has worked extensively with soy in several research studies, in particular for women in the menopausal transition. She is also a health educator and is able to discuss basics of nutrition, the role of nutrition in prevention and control of disease, and keeping people on their diets.