Carolyn Thomas

Author, speaker, blogger, Heart Sisters

Carolyn Thomas is the author of "A Woman's Guide to Living with Heart Disease" (Johns Hopkins University Press, November 2017). She writes and speaks on women and the patient experience of living with a chronic and progressive illness. Her blog HEART SISTERS has attracted over 14 million views from 190 countries.

Media

Improving Diagnosis in Health Care

According to the report Improving Diagnosis in Health Care, most of us will experience a diagnostic error– meaning an inaccurate or delayed diagnoses – in our lifetime. In this video, you hear three people’s experiences with challenges in the diagnostic process. Their stories underscore how critical teamwork and communication are in all settings of care. For more information visit IOM's Report page at: nas.edu/improvingdiagnosis

Raising heart disease awareness among women

Global News, June 4, 2015Television

URL: http://globalnews.ca/video/2037693/raising-heart-disease-awareness-among-women

Women are six times more likely to die from heart disease than from breast cancer. And as Elaine Yong reports, the risk is even greater among “young” women.

Medical Research has a Sex Problem

PBS.org, June 13, 2016Online

URL: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/body/women-medical-research/

When her tests came back normal, Carolyn Thomas was mortified. Even from her desk in the palliative care department of British Columbia’s Royal Jubilee Hospital, Thomas knew how busy the ER could get. She had just wasted her coworker’s precious time only to be diagnosed with acid reflux.

Biography

In 2008, Carolyn Thomas of Victoria, B.C. was a longtime public relations pro who suddenly became a heart patient. She managed to survive what doctors call the “widow maker” heart attack, despite being initially misdiagnosed and sent home from the E.R. with textbook Hollywood Heart Attack symptoms. That same year, Thomas became the first Canadian ever accepted to attend the annual Science & Leadership Symposium for Women With Heart Disease at the world-famous Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Since graduating from this prestigious patient advocacy training, she has spoken to thousands of women (and quite a few men!) about what she learned at the Mayo Women’s Heart Clinic. Her presentations have been described as "part cardiology bootcamp and part stand-up comedy". Audiences include women living with heart disease (and many more who just want to learn how to avoid becoming one!) as well as health care professionals at medical conferences ranging from the Philippines to Boston. Thomas is best known for her award-winning blog HEART SISTERS, which has attracted over 14 million views so far from 190 countries. Her writing has been republished internationally, including in the British Medical Journal. She also serves as a Patient Reviewer for cardiology papers submitted to the BMJ for publication. Few topics attract as much media interest as her powerful essays on the known gender gap in women's heart health diagnosis and treatment. Thomas's story of misdiagnosis and survival has been featured in interviews appearing in The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Globe and Mail, Consumer Reports, Canadian Living, U.S. News, CBC 'The National', CBC Radio, Global TV News, PBS Nova, and many others. Her story was also featured in the launch video accompanying the Institute of Medicine's 2015 landmark report on diagnostic error called "Improving Diagnosis in Health Care" (which she hastens to add does not mean she endorses the report's perplexing failure to recommend mandatory reporting of such errors - "...now is not the right time..."). Carolyn’s the author of "A Woman's Guide to Living With Heart Disease" (Johns Hopkins University Press, November 2017), described by JHU cardiologist Dr. Roger Blumenthal as "an elegant book, and a necessary read for women and the people who care about them.”

Recognition/Reconnaissance

Women's Health Hero | Personal

Our Bodies, Ourselves. One of 20 inductees from seven countries honoured for women's health activism

Top 10 Online Influencers | Personal

Named by ShareCare

ePatient Scholarship winner | Personal

Medicine X conference, Stanford University School of Medicine

10 Best Heart Disease Blogs | Personal

Named by Healthline

Expertise

  • Women's Health
  • Public Speaking
  • Patient Experience
  • Patient Safety
  • Patient Advocacy
  • Media Relations
  • Heart Disease