Sharonne N. Hayes, MD, FACC, FAHA
Dr. Sharonne N. Hayes is Professor of Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Diseases and founded and maintains an active clinical practice in the Women’s Heart Clinic at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. She was appointed as Mayo Clinic’s Director of Diversity and Inclusion in 2010. She has long advocated for the advancement of women’s health and sex-based medicine within the field of cardiology and across all areas that affect women’s health and well being. Dr. Hayes previously directed Mayo Clinic’s Office of Women’s Health, has chaired several task forces and committees involved in optimizing women’s health clinical practice and research activities at Mayo Clinic. She has developed programs to enhance the professional and personal development and mentorship of women physicians in order to promote a more diverse workforce at Mayo and in the field of cardiovascular medicine.
Dr. Hayes is a member of a number of national and local initiatives and groups involved in education, strategic planning, and program development for improvement of health care and reduction of health disparities, particularly as it relates to cardiovascular health in women. She helped develop the NHLBI’s Heart Truth (“Red Dress”) campaign, is active with AHA’s Go Red Campaign and serves on the Board of Directors for WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease. With WomenHeart, Dr. Hayes coordinates the organization’s Science and Leadership Symposium for Women with Heart Disease, held annually at Mayo Clinic aimed at preparing heart disease survivors to be advocates and educators for other women. Her commitment to women’s heart health has been recognized by the 2002 Wenger Award, being an invited speaker for the National Wear Red Day at the White House in 2004, and a Woman’s Day Magazine “Red Dress Award” in 2009. Her research interests include sex and gender-based cardiology, cardiovascular conditions affecting primarily women, spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD), fibromuscular dysplasia, health equity and the utility and optimal role of social media in clinical practice, medical research and health education.
Dr. Hayes is a nationally recognized educator and speaker on women’s health and cardiovascular issues and has been involved in developing numerous medical educational programs on women’s health topics for both medical professionals and the public. She co-directed the long running and award winning continuing medical education program “Controversies in Women’s Health” and co-produced and hosted “Perspectives in Women’s Health”, Mayo Clinic’s continuing medical education live video-teleconference series from 1998 through 2006. In 2004, Dr. Hayes co-produced the Emmy-nominated PBS show, “Call to Action: Women and Heart Disease”. In 2011 she co-hosted and moderated In the Prime of Her Life — A Mayo Clinic Media Briefing on Women and Heart Disease held in February at the Paley Center for Media in New York City. She has been a guest on the Today Show, Good Morning America, the Charlie Rose Show, CNN Morning Show, Talk of the Nation, and the Dr. Oz Show among others, and has also done live medical reporting for a local ABC affiliate. She serves on the advisory board for Woman’s Day, Diabetic Living, and Women’s Health magazines, and previously wrote a regular column for Better Homes and Gardens’ Heart Healthy Living.
Dr. Hayes received her medical degree from Northwestern University in Chicago and pursued fellowships in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Research, and Cardiovascular Diseases at Mayo Clinic Rochester, joining the Mayo staff in 1990. She is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association, has served in a number of volunteer leadership roles for AHA at the local, regional and national level and is a member of the Association of Black Cardiologists.