Barbra Streisand performs on the stage in Berlin June 30, 2007. [Agencies]

Barbra Streisand has donated $5 million to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for a women's heart education and research program, the hospital said on Wednesday.

The gift will create permanent funding for the Barbra Streisand Women's Cardiovascular Research and Education at Cedars-Sinai, and the hospital said it would expand research efforts there.

"Women need to be educated about female cardiovascular disease and the medical community must be propelled toward change," Streisand, 65, said in a written statement.

"Just like with breast cancer the impetus must come from women themselves striving to become empowered to reduce their risks for heart disease," she said.

Streisand, a native of Brooklyn, New York, who first won fame as a singer in the early 1960s, has won multiple Grammy Awards. She has also won two Academy Awards and several Emmy awards for her acting.