Women’s Heart Alliance has launched BARBRA, an AI-powered support and education tool designed to give women plain-language information about heart health, in partnership with women’s health AI company EmaEQ.

The tool was launched on 29 September to mark World Heart Day and is named after Women’s Heart Alliance co-founder Barbra Streisand, who has long advocated for greater awareness and research into women’s cardiovascular health.  

BARBRA is designed to provide women with accessible information about cardiovascular health, including prevention, potential risk factors and questions they may want to discuss with healthcare professionals.

The tool has been built using EmaEQ’s clinical AI layer, which the company says draws on years of women’s health data and more than 10 million real-world conversations. BARBRA’s responses have also been informed and reviewed by women cardiologists within the Women’s Heart Alliance network.  

The platform also incorporates licensed content from the American College of Cardiology’s CardioSmart patient education programme, covering areas including nutrition, physical activity, smoking cessation, weight management and stress.  

Why Women’s Heart Health Needs Greater Attention

Women’s Heart Alliance launched BARBRA against a backdrop of continuing gaps in awareness and cardiovascular research.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the United States, yet the Women’s Heart Alliance’s 2025 Cardiologist Survey found that only one in four women treated by the cardiologists surveyed knew this. The same survey found that two-thirds of participating cardiologists said they were treating more young women than five years earlier.  

The organisation also points to a longer history of gender gaps in cardiovascular research.

Women were not required to be included in federally funded US clinical research until 1993, and the Alliance says many cardiovascular guidelines were developed from research populations that were predominantly male.  

Those gaps can affect how women understand symptoms, risk factors and prevention.

BARBRA has been developed specifically around this issue, with the Women’s Heart Alliance saying its answers have been informed by cardiologists and designed to provide women with a more accessible starting point for understanding their heart health.

Barbra Streisand’s Role

The name BARBRA has a direct connection to the history of the Women’s Heart Alliance.

Streisand co-founded the organisation in 2014 and has campaigned for greater recognition of women’s cardiovascular disease and for more research into women’s heart health.  

Commenting on the launch, Streisand said the tool would help women understand their risks, recognise that their symptoms matter and seek appropriate care.

The Women’s Heart Alliance says BARBRA is intended to support education and awareness rather than replace professional healthcare.

The tool does not diagnose medical conditions or replace advice from a doctor or other healthcare professional.  

EmaEQ Brings Women’s Health AI Into the Partnership

EmaEQ provides the clinical AI technology behind BARBRA.

The company describes itself as an AI platform focused specifically on women’s health. Its technology is built around women’s health data and real-world conversations, which are used alongside clinical expertise to provide information tailored to women’s health questions.

For BARBRA, EmaEQ’s technology is combined with information and clinical input from the Women’s Heart Alliance and its network of women cardiologists.

The result is intended to give women a simple way to start asking questions about cardiovascular health without positioning AI as a replacement for clinical care.

From Awareness to Prevention

BARBRA’s initial focus includes everyday prevention and education.

Its content covers areas such as healthy nutrition, physical activity, smoking cessation, weight management and stress, alongside broader questions about cardiovascular risk.

The Women’s Heart Alliance hopes the tool can help women recognise the importance of cardiovascular health earlier and encourage conversations with healthcare professionals when appropriate.

The launch also reflects a wider movement in women’s health technology towards developing tools around conditions that have historically received less attention in women.

By combining the Women’s Heart Alliance’s cardiovascular expertise with EmaEQ’s AI technology, BARBRA is designed to put more accessible information about women’s heart health directly in front of women.

For Streisand and the Women’s Heart Alliance, the initiative extends a campaign that has focused for years on making women’s cardiovascular disease more visible.

For EmaEQ, it demonstrates how specialised women’s health data and clinical expertise can be incorporated into AI-powered health education.

BARBRA is now available through the Women’s Heart Alliance website as an educational resource for women seeking information about heart health.