Book Lisa Zahakos, RPA-C
Clear, personal conversations that help women understand their health and ask better questions—from pregnancy through midlife.
Talks · Panels · Podcasts · Workshops
IN LISA’S OWN WORDS · 74-SECOND TRAILER
Get a feel for Lisa’s voice and approach: pregnancy history, life after the NICU, and the questions women want to bring into care. An introduction in her own recorded voice.
Listen to the full interviewLisa’s original voice, edited from Healthy Mom Healthy Baby Tennessee · TIPQC. Full interview published October 16, 2026.
Will you be able to play with your grandchildren? Will we be able to hold suitcases and walk up a flight of stairs and travel?
Heart Reserve really started out of my own life experience. So I'm able to see it from a patient because I'm a 45-year-old mom kind of going through this myself right now and as a clinician on the other side of the seat.
And I created Heart Reserve as an educational platform for patients, for clinicians, for people leaving the NICU, for anyone in one of these situations, so that we could understand better what our history is and how to bring that to the clinician so that they could help us.
As a physician assistant, I've always seen my role being taking these incredible researchers and genius doctors in this specialty field and translating it into easy words that people could understand and medicine that we understand.
I want women to get used to telling your story, to talking about that experience as it relates to you. Your NICU experience, your baby's experience, that was also your history.
Will you be able to live the life that you want by building this reserve.
Build My Heart Story.
You could print it, you could download it.
Speaking topics
Your audience leaves with a clearer way to describe their history, understand their questions and prepare for a conversation with their care team.
Signature talk
Maternal health · NICU communities · Care teams
What women want their next clinician to know about pregnancy, and how care teams can keep that history in view after birth, after the NICU and years later.
Your audience leaves withKnow which details from pregnancy to bring to your clinician, and begin putting them into your own Heart Story.
Bring this talk to your audienceHow menopause can fit with changes in blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, symptoms, sleep, strength, and stamina.
Your audience leaves withTurn changes in how you feel into specific questions about your heart health at midlife.
For: Women’s groups · Workplace wellness · Health events
Ask about this talkA clear way to explain what a heart test checks, what it leaves unanswered and how to talk about symptoms that persist.
Your audience leaves withDescribe symptoms clearly and ask what a test result does—and does not—answer.
For: Patient education · Community health · Clinical teams
Ask about this talkWhy strength and stamina matter for work, caregiving, travel, recovery, and independence—and how to make them part of the health conversation.
Your audience leaves withConnect a goal that matters in your daily life with a question to bring to your care team.
For: Women’s events · Caregivers · Workplace wellness
Ask about this talkWays to bring Lisa to your audience
Start with your audience and what you want them to take away. Share your format, setting and topic in the inquiry below.
Plan your event
The free Heart Story worksheet gives your audience a place for their questions, history and next steps.
Meet your speaker
Lisa knows what it is to care for patients, and what it is to be the one waiting for answers.
She began her clinical career in interventional cardiology. During her twin pregnancy, she experienced heart failure and became a mother navigating the NICU. Her clinical practice spanned 2003–2018; since 2018, her work has focused on patient and family advocacy. Those experiences shape how she explains women’s heart health and helps women find the words to ask for care.
Book Lisa
For a talk, panel, workshop or interview, tell Lisa what matters to your audience and what you have in mind.
lisazahakos@gmail.comView Lisa’s bio, photos & media kitCommunity & clinical collaboration
For organizations interested in education and the Heart Story Tool, Lisa welcomes conversations about reviewing resources and shaping future pilots.
Help review a short guide that women can use to gather their history, results and questions before a medical visit.
Discuss a patient-education pilotHelp design a future pilot so pregnancy history stays in a woman’s medical record. Clinical review, privacy protections and a way to evaluate the pilot would come first.
Discuss a pregnancy-history pilotFollowing conversations with Lisa, Graham’s Foundation, NICU Strong, FLRRiSH, Sisters@Heart and Dear NICU Mama agreed to share HEART RESERVE with their communities.
Read about recent conversations