Dr. Annabelle Santos Volgman is the co-founder and medical director of the Rush Heart Center for Women, the first heart program in Chicago devoted exclusively to women that opened in 2003. She is the Madeleine and James M. McMullan-Carl E. Eybel, MD, Professor of Excellence in Clinical Cardiology at Rush and a nationally-recognized leader in cardiology care and research. A fellow of the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association, Dr. Volgman has dedicated her career to helping women and their families lead healthier lives through prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease.
Dr. Volgman received her undergraduate degree with honors from Barnard College and her medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. She completed her residency in internal medicine at the University of Chicago and was fellowship trained in cardiology and clinical electrophysiology at Northwestern University.

A passionate researcher and leading advocate in the prevention of heart disease in women, Dr. Volgman has written and published numerous abstracts and articles for scientific peers and mass audiences. Her research has been particularly pivotal in the area of atrial fibrillation, the most common cardiac arrhythmia that disproportionately affects the risk of stroke in women. In addition, Dr. Volgman has delivered hundreds of lectures both locally, nationally and internationally. She has served as an editor/reviewer for several scientific journals, including Circulation and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Since its beginning in the early 2000s, Dr. Volgman has been a prominent leader in the American Heart Association’s “Go Red for Women” campaign that aims to inform women about cardiovascular disease risk and actions they can take to protect their health. To show her support for the Go Red campaign, Dr. Volgman wears red every day to remind people that heart disease remains the leading cause of death among women in the U.S.

Dr. Volgman has received numerous awards from her peers, including the American Heart Association, Girls in the Game and the Asian American Hall of Fame. Since 2006 she has consistently been recognized in Chicago magazine’s annual listing of “Top Doctors” and earned similar accolades in Women’s Health Magazine. Dr. Volgman was featured in O Magazine as Ms. Oprah Winfrey’s cardiologist in 2002. Among her awards are the national WomenHeart Wenger Award for Innovation in Heart Care for Women in 2019 and the Woman’s Day Red Dress Award in 2020. Dr. Volgman remains heavily involved in many local and national causes, serving on the national scientific advisory board of WomenHeart, several leadership committees of the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology and Chicago nonprofit institutions. She was elected as Governor for the Illinois American College of Cardiology starting her term as Governor Elect in 2020.