Rita F. Redberg, MD, MSc, has been professor of medicine and director of Women's Cardiovascular Services in the division of cardiology at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center since 1990.
Redberg earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University and a Doctor of Medicine from University of Pennsylvania Medical School. She was awarded a Thouron Fellowship, which allowed her to complete a Masters of Science degree in health policy and administration from the London School of Economics in 1980.
After completing her medical residency and cardiology fellowship at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital, Redberg joined the faculty at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York before moving to UCSF. She helped develop and was co-director of UCSF's National Center of Excellence in Women's Health, a designation awarded by the Office of Women's Health in 1997. She has been the director of a successful annual American College of Cardiology Extramural Program on Heart Disease in Women since 1997, and she started a national committee on Women in Cardiology for the American Heart Association (AHA) in 1994.
Redberg has had a long-standing passion for politics and health policy and is currently a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow. She serves on the American College of Cardiology Advocacy Committee, and the American Heart Association's Scientific Publications Committee and chairs the AHA Communications Committee. Redberg is also a champion of promoting physical activity and healthy eating and chairs the AHA's Scientific Advisory Board for the "Choose To Move" program. She serves on several major editorial boards and reviews for many more publications.
Her main research interests have been the use of imaging tests and technology assessment in cardiology. She lectures nationally in the areas of diagnostic testing and screening for coronary artery disease, women and cardiovascular disease, and preventive cardiology.