Lisa Zahakos, RPA-C, is a Registered Physician Assistant, Certified (RPA-C), and clinical educator with more than two decades of clinical practice. Her experience spans interventional cardiology, executive and preventive medicine, psychiatry and addiction medicine. As the founder of HEART RESERVE, she develops education on women’s cardiovascular health, connecting pregnancy history, symptoms, family history and metabolic health to practical conversations in clinical care.
She brings both clinical experience and a patient’s perspective to her work, including her own experience of pregnancy-related heart failure during a complicated twin pregnancy. A mother of four, she focuses on making complex health information understandable and useful to patients and the clinicians who care for them.
Editorial and medical education work
Associate Editor, HEART RESERVE ProjectCardioSmart, American College of Cardiology
Her project focuses on patient education connecting pregnancy history with long-term cardiovascular health and practical conversations between women and their clinicians.
Her contributions to the HEART RESERVE clinical education series include clinical content development, case-based teaching, assessment design and narration. The series addresses clinical decisions across cardiovascular, kidney and metabolic health, with attention to women’s health and continuity of care. She works with Global Education Group on accreditation and grant planning, and with myCME / Haymarket Medical Education on distribution planning.
Authorship and patient education
Lisa is the author of Love Your Heart: What Every Woman Needs to Know to Live Stronger, Longer, a completed nonfiction manuscript on women’s cardiovascular health, currently in development. The book connects health history, symptoms and test results with practical questions women can bring to their clinicians.
She developed the Heart Story tool through HEART RESERVE to help people organize relevant history, medicines, symptoms and dated results. The tool supports a clinical conversation and a practical next step.
Clinical experience
- 2018–present · Outpatient psychiatry and addiction medicine, New JerseyClinical evaluation, medication management, follow-up, patient education and coordination with primary care and specialists.
- 2014–2018 · Jersey Medical Care, Matawan, New JerseyOutpatient psychiatry and addiction medicine, including treatment monitoring and patient education.
- 2008–2014 · Path Medical, New York CityExecutive and preventive medicine, including cardiovascular histories, symptoms and testing alongside hormonal and metabolic concerns.
- 2003–2008 · Interventional cardiology with Ayman Farid, MD, New YorkExercise and nuclear cardiac stress testing, cardiovascular assessment, follow-up and prevention counseling.
Education and credentials
Wagner College Physician Assistant Program, completed 2003. Nationally certified by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants; licensed in New Jersey and New York.
Selected writing and features
- A Better Health Record Should Show What Changed, Not Just What Was MeasuredHealthcare IT Today · Guest article · September 18, 2026
- My Twins Were Born at 28 Weeks. I Didn’t Know That Was Part of My Medical History, TooThe Mother Chapter · Personal essay · 2026
- Lisa Zahakos’s Women’s Health JourneySociety for Women’s Health Research · First-person story · 2026
- Lisa’s World Heart Day storyWorld Heart Federation · First-person story · 2026
Advocacy and professional history
Lisa founded Sew Away Corona, a grassroots relief initiative, in 2020. She also recorded an oral-history interview with the Physician Assistant History Society in October 2026; publication is pending.
Curriculum vitae
The full CV includes her clinical timeline, education, editorial work, writing and recorded interviews.
Profile updated October 15, 2026.