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Physician assistant, medical writer and mother of four. Lisa brings clinical experience and family advocacy to women’s heart-health education, helping women bring their stories and questions into their care.
Know your story. Build your reserve.
Media kit updated
Published work & coverage
Guest appearance · Healthy Mom Healthy Baby Tennessee
Lisa joins Dr. Cornelia Graves and Brenda Barker to talk about pregnancy history, mothers’ heart health after the NICU, and bringing your own questions into the exam room.
· Full interview · About 37 minutes
Listen to Lisa’s storyHealth Story Collaborative · Personal essay · October 20, 2026
Lisa reflects on serious illness during pregnancy, the months her twins spent in the NICU, and how becoming a patient changed the way she listens to mothers.
She Said Next · Guest article · October 17, 2026
Lisa shares her own experience and offers practical ways to bring pregnancy history into a heart-health conversation, even decades later.
The Mother Chapter · Personal essay
A mother’s account of premature birth, the NICU and learning to carry her own pregnancy history into her healthcare visits.
Society for Women’s Health Research · First-person story
Lisa’s personal account, published through SWHR’s Share Your Story program.
World Heart Federation · September 11, 2026
Lisa shares her twin-pregnancy experience and why she wants women’s health histories to stay part of their ongoing care.
Healthcare IT Today · September 18, 2026
Lisa writes about making changes in a woman’s health easier for her and her clinician to see across years of medical records.
Also included in the publication’s September 19, 2026 weekly roundup.
Beyond the Beeps · Episode 27 · September 29, 2026
Lisa joins Leah MG Jayanetti to talk about her twin pregnancy, fetal surgery, the NICU and why she created HEART RESERVE.
Women of Wearables · September 14, 2026
An interview about Lisa’s clinical work, her family’s experience and helping women put their health history into words.
The Fetal Institute · Patient story
Our family shares the story of the fetal surgery that brought us to The Fetal Institute in Miami.
Watch our Fetal Institute story
Find “Maurice & Peter” on their patient testimonials page.
From the archive
Personal essays and reporting on the family advocacy and volunteer work that came before Heart Reserve.
The Mighty · Personal essay · October 29, 2018
Lisa’s account of the early NICU days after twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, written as her family was living through them. Published as Lisa Signorile Zahakos.
The Mighty · Personal essay · October 27, 2018
A personal essay about her husband’s support through a complicated twin pregnancy, premature birth and their family’s NICU experience. Published as Lisa Signorile Zahakos.
The Paper Nerd · April 17, 2020
Coverage of Lisa’s Sew Away Corona outreach to Kitty Meow Boutique, which donated approximately 700 thank-you cards to accompany masks for nurses.
NY City Lens · News coverage · 2020
Reporting on Lisa’s Sew Away Corona volunteer group and the community effort to help healthcare workers during the pandemic.
New Jersey 101.5 · April 13, 2020
Coverage of Lisa’s Sew Away Corona effort, organizing volunteers to make masks for essential workers during the pandemic.
For producers, editors & event organizers
Each topic gives women a useful question to take to their own clinician. Available for interviews, podcasts, panels and workshops.
A mother’s health story continues after her baby comes home. Lisa brings a clinician’s and a mother’s perspective to keeping pregnancy history in view, including after a NICU stay and later in midlife.
How to ask what a test tells you, what it does not answer and how your symptoms and history fit into the conversation with your clinician.
A practical demonstration: choose your main question, gather the history and results you want to discuss, and leave space to record the next step you agree on together.
For podcast hosts & editors
Give listeners a place to begin after the conversation. Copy the link that fits your episode into its notes or resource list.
A guide and free worksheet to help mothers bring their own pregnancy history and questions to a healthcare visit, during the NICU stay or after discharge.
https://heartreserve.blog/resources/after-nicuPlain-language guides about heart health during pregnancy and after pregnancy complications, with questions and worksheets for appointments.
https://heartreserve.blog/resources/pregnancy-heart-healthLisa is a physician assistant, medical writer, mother of four and founder of HEART RESERVE. She has been a physician assistant since 2003 and currently works in psychiatry and addiction medicine. Her family advocacy began in 2018.
https://heartreserve.blog/aboutThe guides and worksheets are free, with no email or account required. They support conversations with a clinician and do not replace individual medical care.
THE HEART RESERVE PODCAST
Personal stories. Heart health in plain language. Join Lisa Zahakos, RPA-C, to explore pregnancy, motherhood and midlife, with questions you can bring to your own care team.
Latest episode · 34:10
Still getting your period, but waking at night, losing words, or feeling your heart race? Understand symptoms, useful tests, treatment choices and follow-up in plain language, including how pregnancy history fits your heart-health conversation.
Educational information. Narration uses Lisa’s authorized AI voice.
Short biography
Lisa Zahakos, RPA-C, is a New Jersey physician assistant, medical writer and founder of HEART RESERVE. She has been a physician assistant since 2003 and currently works in psychiatry and addiction medicine, following earlier work in interventional cardiology and executive and integrative medicine. A mother of four and advocate for TTTS and NICU families, she helps women connect pregnancy history, bloodwork and midlife changes with the questions they bring to their clinicians. Lisa is an Associate Editor with CardioSmart at the American College of Cardiology and is developing continuing medical education. She hosts the HEART RESERVE podcast and created My Heart Story, a free web resource for preparing for an appointment. She is also developing Heart Story into an app, beginning with postpartum heart health.
Finalist, Women in Change Awards 2026
For podcast hosts & event organizers
Please welcome Lisa Zahakos, RPA-C, a physician assistant, medical writer and founder of HEART RESERVE. Lisa brings experience in cardiology and preventive medicine, along with her perspective as a mother of four and patient-family advocate. Her work helps women understand their health history and bring clearer questions to their clinicians.
Download the short biography and host introductionCurrent practice in psychiatry and addiction medicine, following earlier work in cardiology and executive and integrative medicine. Family advocacy since 2018.
Independent heart-health education and practical tools for women.
A completed nonfiction manuscript seeking the right path to publication; not yet for sale.
Pregnancy Is Heart History is proposed and seeking independent review; no pilot is active and it is not a guideline or validated program.
Long biography
Lisa Zahakos, RPA-C, is an NCCPA-certified physician assistant, medical writer, mother of four and founder of HEART RESERVE. She has been a physician assistant since 2003 and currently works in psychiatry and addiction medicine, following earlier work in interventional cardiology and executive and integrative medicine.
From 2008–2014, she practiced at Dr. Eric R. Braverman’s PATH Medical (Place for Achieving Total Health) in New York City. She brought her cardiology background to cardiovascular assessment and executive physicals in an integrative practice addressing hormones, metabolic health, nutrition, weight management and healthy aging. Her patient care also contributed to the practice’s clinical research activities associated with PATH Foundation NY. She also volunteered with its Wounded Warrior Program.
Her work is also personal. During her twin pregnancy with Peter and Maurice, Lisa experienced pregnancy complications. Fetal surgery, an emergency delivery at 28 weeks and five days, and months of NICU care followed. She learned how difficult it can be to keep a mother’s own health in view while her babies need intensive care. Her sons survived, and the experience helped shape her advocacy for mothers and families.
Through HEART RESERVE, Lisa helps women organize what happened during pregnancy, what has changed in midlife, their family history, symptoms and relevant test results into a Heart Story they can bring to a clinician. She wants women to arrive with clearer questions and a better understanding of their history. Her nonfiction manuscript, currently titled Love Your Heart: What Your Pregnancy History and Midlife Changes Mean for Your Heart, is complete and seeking publication. HEART RESERVE remains the name of her education platform.
Lisa is an Associate Editor with CardioSmart at the American College of Cardiology. She is developing continuing medical education on women’s cardiovascular health, from pregnancy through midlife and developing research questions on reproductive history and cardiovascular risk in consultation with Women’s Health Initiative investigators.
Since 2018, she has supported families worldwide facing TTTS, selective intrauterine growth restriction (SIUGR), fetal surgery and the NICU. Her Peter & Maurice blog has received approximately 58,000 views. As a Patient-Family Ambassador and Consultant with USFetus, she helps parents prepare questions and connect with specialist evaluation. She and her sons contribute videos to the TTTS Foundation’s annual December awareness campaign.
Lisa founded Sew Away Corona in 2020, mobilizing professional seamstresses, 20 Broadway costume designers and community volunteers. The network delivered more than 500,000 masks to frontline workers. Her work included two Citi collaborations, a Lush-supported campaign for 3,000 gift bags, and mask adapters she designed and had 3D printed to help relieve strap pressure. She is a finalist for Inspiring Change Leader of the Year in the Women in Change Awards 2026.
Explore the Sew Away Corona projects and photographs
Read Lisa's full storyThe work
A free web resource for organizing health history and questions before a visit. Lisa is also developing Heart Story into an app, beginning with postpartum heart health, and is seeking feedback from clinicians and educators on the first version.
See the visit example and app conceptDeveloping patient-education contributions with the American College of Cardiology’s CardioSmart team, drawing on clinical and lived experience in pregnancy history, cardiovascular health and healthcare visits.
Editorial and patient-education workMedical Education Developer and PA Narrator for Pregnancy Is Heart History. Work includes accreditation and grant planning with Global Education Group, hosting and distribution planning with myCME / Haymarket Medical Education, and separate program-development discussions with ReachMD. Approvals, funding and launch remain pending.
Education and research backgroundShe is developing research questions on reproductive history and cardiovascular risk in consultation with Women’s Health Initiative investigators.
Current research developmentFour ways to talk about heart health: blood flow, heartbeat, how the heart pumps and fills, and strength and stamina for daily life.
Explore the frameworkA practical health book helping women connect their history, understand their questions, and decide what comes next with their clinician. It is not yet for sale.
Read about the bookPregnancy Is Heart History proposes a way to ask about pregnancy history, keep it in the ongoing medical record, and consider it in later care. It needs clinical and practical review before any pilot begins.
Review the initiativeKnow your starting point. Choose a priority. Build consistently. See what changed. Decide what comes next.
Preview the buildRecorded interviews · Awaiting publication
Recorded
Part 1 recorded. Release pending. A follow-up conversation is being planned.
Recorded
Interview with Nicholas Hall. Recording complete; publication has not yet been confirmed.
Recorded
Oral history interview. Recording complete; editing in progress.
Scheduled & planned
Planned recordings include A Dose of Health, Taking Healthcare by Storm and The MamasteFit Podcast. Recording and release have not yet been confirmed for these appearances.
In the Mix: Invited for a January–February 2027 guest segment with Dina Deleasa-Gonsar. Filming date to be confirmed.
Community education
Following conversations with Lisa, Graham’s Foundation, NICU Strong, FLRRiSH, Sisters@Heart and Dear NICU Mama agreed to share HEART RESERVE with their communities.
Recent conversations have focused on mothers’ health after the NICU, pregnancy history and practical education women can bring to their own care teams. Lisa and FLRRiSH are also discussing a future Instagram Live.
Outreach with Hand to Hold is underway. Lisa is also coordinating a proposed November Prematurity Awareness Month contribution with Once Upon A Preemie.
Explore recent community conversationsProfessional support
In September 2026, Nanette K. Wenger, MD, provided a signed letter supporting Lisa’s nomination for the AMA Honors — Excellence in Communication Award, based on her review of Lisa’s writing about pregnancy history and women’s cardiovascular health.
The letter was included with Lisa’s submitted nomination. The support concerns the writing Dr. Wenger reviewed, including “The Pregnancy Your Heart Remembers.”
Read Dr. Wenger’s contribution and article-specific statementFor press & event organizers
For editorial and event use with credit: Lisa Zahakos, RPA-C / HEART RESERVE. Written approval is required for advertising use, alterations, testimonials, logo use, or language implying endorsement.
Clinical experience, editorial work, education development and community leadership. Updated October 24, 2026.
Plain-text copy for event programs, podcast notes and spoken introductions.
Download biographiesHEART RESERVE · PNG · 1254 × 1254
Download podcast coverColor photograph · JPEG · 1120 × 2048
Download press photo
Original photograph · JPEG · 840 × 1536
Download speaker photoLandscape brand image · PNG · 1733 × 907
Download social cardBook overview, working title and publication status.
Open the book pageEditorial boundary
HEART RESERVE is an independent women's cardiovascular-health education project created by Lisa Zahakos, RPA-C. It provides education—not medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
The book is a completed manuscript seeking publication. Pregnancy Is Heart History is a proposed initiative seeking independent clinical, implementation, privacy, and equity review. No pilot is active. Neither is presented as endorsed, validated, or partnered without written permission for that exact claim.
Professional contact
