UPMC Altoona’s Caye Gummo to chair the American Heart Association’s 2025 Blair Go Red for Women campaign
As the manager of a busy cardiology practice, Caye Gummo knows how important it is to manage blood pressure, maintain healthy habits and reduce the heart disease risk factors you can control. It’s even more important if you inherited risk factors that you can’t control. Learning that she faces a higher genetic risk for heart disease, Gummo is using her heart health journey as inspiration to help more women in her new role as chairwoman of the American Heart Association’s 2025 Blair Go Red for Women® campaign.
Gummo is the practice coordinator for UPMC Altoona’s Blair Medical Associates Cardiology. She graduated magna cum laude from Capella University with her bachelor’s degree in business while working full time for Blair Medical Associates Cardiology. Her personal mission statement is to do the best she can. This means holding herself to a very high standard personally and professionally. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking with her dog and listening to audiobooks.
In her role as chairwoman, Gummo will lead a volunteer executive leadership team in a year-round effort to engage local women in the fight against heart disease. Highlights throughout the year include the nationwide celebration of National Wear Red Day on Friday, Feb. 7, 2025, which will also kick-off the nine-week Woman of Impact fundraising and awareness campaign. The year culminates with the annual Blair Go Red for Women Event and Fashion Show on May 22, 2025 at the Blair County Convention Center in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
“Hereditary amyloidosis is my why,” said Gummo. “I had a 50% chance of inheriting the gene which carries amyloidosis. I inherited amyloidosis from my father. My father is doing well thanks to medical innovations in pharmacology. There are now medications which can slow the progression of amyloidosis so that I can have many more years with him in my life.”
People who are born with hereditary transthyretin ATTR (hATTR) amyloidosis have a genetic variant affecting the protein transthyretin, causing the protein to build up as amyloid in the heart, nerves and other organs and tissues. The progressive condition can lead to heart rhythm disorders and heart failure. It is estimated that about 50,000 people worldwide have hATTR amyloidosis, although many researchers believe the actual number may be far higher. The American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines®- Heart Failure program offers health care providers a suite of tools to improve the identification and diagnosis of hATTR amyloidosis and improve outcomes for heart failure patients.
The Go Red for Women movement is a comprehensive platform designed more than two decades ago to increase women’s heart health awareness and serve as a catalyst for change to improve the lives of women globally. According to the American Heart Association, a global force for healthier lives for all, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in women, claiming more lives than all cancers combined. Nearly 45% of women over age 20 are living with some form of CVD[1]. Go Red for Women is a global movement with impact across the United States and in more than 50 countries around the world.
Go Red for Women is nationally sponsored by CVS Health. The 2025 Blair Go Red for Women campaign is locally sponsored by UPMC and UPMC Health Plan, Geisinger and DelGrosso Foods.
For more information about supporting the Blair Go Red for Women campaign as a volunteer, sponsor, donor or event attendee, visit heart.org/blairgored or contact Vanessa Houser at vanessa.houser@heart.org.
[1], [1][1], [1][1][1] , [1]V Tsao CW, Aday AW, Almarzooq ZI, Anderson CAM, Arora P, Avery CL, Baker-Smith CM, Beaton AZ, Boehme AK, Buxton AE, Commodore Mensah Y, Elkind MSV, Evenson KR, Eze-Nliam C, Fugar S, Generoso G, Heard DG, Hiremath S, Ho JE, Kalani R, Kazi DS, Ko D, Levine DA,Liu J, Ma J, Magnani JW, Michos ED, Mussolino ME, Navaneethan SD, Parikh NI, Poudel R, Rezk-Hanna M, Roth GA, Shah NS, St-Onge M-P, Thacker EL, Virani SS, Voeks JH, Wang N-Y, Wong ND, Wong SS, Yaffe K, Martin SS; on behalf of the American Heart Association Council on Epidemiology and Prevention Statistics Committee and Stroke Statistics Subcommittee. Heart disease and stroke statistics—2023 update: a report from the American Heart Association [published ahead of print January 25, 2023].
Circulation. doi: 10.1161/CIR.0000000000001123