Adele Zhang, lecturer in design and manager of the Jo Ann C. Stabb Design Collection, was honored for her service to the UC Davis Women’s Cardiovascular Medicine Program in recognition of creativity and leadership in the use of design for health education and social consciousness. The honor was bestowed by cardiologist Amparo Villablanca, director and founder of the UC Davis Women’s Cardiovascular Medicine Program, at the 15^th annual Women’s Heart Care Forum on Feb. 7.

Zhang was honored for her role as mentor to design students who contribute fashion to the UC Davis Red Dress Collection, the first interdisciplinary partnership between UC Davis Health and the Department of Design. The red dress is a national symbol for encouraging women to reduce their risks of heart disease. 

For 10 years, students have created a collection of red dresses to raise awareness that heart disease is the leading cause of death among women. Each dress represents the student’s individual design aesthetics and cultures, while raising awareness for heart disease prevention and encouraging heart-healthy lifestyles.

Dresses from the collection have been displayed together with heart-health messages at the California State Capitol, Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts and the UC Davis Design Museum as well as in store fronts in downtown Davis.

New designs are unveiled each year at the forum, which is held in Sacramento on National Wear Red Day during American Heart Month. This year’s participating student designers and models were Katherine Guevara Argueta, Adanna Iloris, Catherine Llarena, Pamela Munoz, Marcy Patra and Raiden Sherk.

Zhang teaches fashion design in the Department of Design. With her multicultural background, industry and business experience, she makes links between wearable product design and its real world application, where actuality and innovation are both being challenged. She received her B.S. in Industrial Design with a specialization in Apparel Design in China, and her M.F.A. in Textile Arts & Costume Design from UC Davis. She has created the first UC Davis study aboard program in Fashion in China and co-curated numerous shows at the UC Davis Design Museum, including the current “Appreciation and Adaptation: Homage to Global Textiles.”