Cone Health cardiologist champions women's heart health in Greensboro

Heart disease is still the leading killer of women, and Dr. Kardie Tobb is trying to move that reality out of the abstract and into everyday care in Greensboro. At Cone Health’s Women’s Heart Community Event at Union Square Campus, the focus was not just awareness but action, with free screenings, expert-led sessions, interactive activities and a wellness expo built around women who may not otherwise get checked until a crisis forces the issue.

Tobb’s work has centered on the women most likely to be overlooked: Black women, rural women and younger women who were told after pregnancy complications that they were fine, even though their cardiovascular risk can rise later. That matters in Guilford County, where access to preventive care is uneven and where heart disease remains a major threat for families across Greensboro and the wider Piedmont Triad. The numbers are stark. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says heart disease caused 304,970 female deaths in 2023, and the American Heart Association says cardiovascular disease kills more women than all forms of cancer combined. Yet event materials say only 44% of women recognize it as their greatest health threat.

Cone Health has tried to shrink that gap with the Healthy Heart Mobile Unit, which is designed to reduce long-term cardiovascular risk by bringing prevention and awareness closer to people who face transportation problems, work conflicts or barriers to specialty care. The unit offers screenings, education and preventive care for high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol, turning public health messaging into something residents can use without waiting for a hospital visit. Tobb has said the goal is to help women feel empowered to take care of themselves and get screened before disease becomes an emergency.

Her impact has also drawn formal recognition. Cone Health said Tobb received the 2026 RISE Health Care Hero Award on March 24, and RISE describes the honor as recognizing people whose work improves the lives of underserved populations through health care and social-service interventions. Cone Health says Tobb is board certified in general cardiology, nuclear cardiology, echocardiography, cardiovascular computed tomography and internal medicine, with interests in cardiometabolic disease prevention, women’s cardiovascular health, cardio-obstetrics and reducing disparities in medically underserved populations.

North Carolina’s 2024 Health Disparities Analysis Report points to access to care, chronic disease and social drivers of health as persistent problems, the same barriers Tobb is trying to confront in Greensboro. For Guilford County women, the message is simple and urgent: heart disease is not just a men’s issue, and prevention is most effective long before an ambulance is needed.