Five research teams will each receive $100,000 in translational research grants from the American Heart Association to tackle conditions that disproportionately affect women, including hidden heart disease, autoimmune disorders and heavy menstrual bleeding. The grants, announced September 22, 2026, come through the Association's Studio Red program and target areas where women remain underdiagnosed, undertreated and underfunded despite decades of cardiovascular progress.
The funding covers a one-year period, during which Studio Red - part of American Heart Association Ventures - will also provide grantees with guidance on intellectual property, regulatory pathways, reimbursement and commercialization strategies. At the end of the year, one or two awardees may be selected for full company incubation within Studio Red, including support during early company formation and help reaching key funding milestones.
Projects targeting overlooked conditions
The winning projects span several priority research areas for the Association, including ischemia with non-obstructive coronary arteries (INOCA), autoimmune disease and heavy menstrual bleeding. Each project takes a distinct technical approach to closing diagnostic and treatment gaps.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is developing a non-invasive MRI technique that measures cardiac phase-resolved T2* mapping to detect reduced oxygenation dynamics in women with microvascular dysfunction. The method requires no drugs, injections or invasive procedures. Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine is creating a blood test based on XIST - a long non-coding RNA involved in X-chromosome inactivation - to screen for systemic autoimmune diseases and predict which patients face greater risk of severe illness.
Two projects rely on artificial intelligence and machine learning. The University of California, Los Angeles is building a multimodal AI platform that analyzes medical records, heart images and lab tests to identify women at risk for INOCA and coronary microvascular dysfunction earlier. The University of Maryland, Baltimore is developing an AI-powered diagnostic tool to help doctors pinpoint causes of heavy menstrual bleeding and recommend the most effective tests and treatments for each patient. The University of Pittsburgh is testing an ultrasound-based therapy that uses microbubble cavitation - tiny bubbles activated by sound waves - to improve blood flow in the heart's smallest vessels and relieve chest pain.
Selection criteria and scientific rigor
"Too often, conditions that uniquely or disproportionately affect women are overlooked or misunderstood in clinical care," said Annabelle Volgman, M.D., American Heart Association volunteer and chair of the peer review committee for the translational research grant awards. "The projects we selected to fund stood out based on scientific rigor and the potential to translate into meaningful improvements in diagnosis, treatment and outcomes for women."
Mariell Jessup, M.D., FAHA, chief science and medical officer of the American Heart Association, said many heart, brain and related conditions that impact women differently "remain underdiagnosed, undertreated and underfunded." She added that the selected projects "represent the kind of cross-disciplinary thinking required to shape the future and bring new healthcare solutions closer to the women who need them."
Why this matters for healthcare and research professionals
The grant awards signal where translational funding is flowing in women's cardiovascular and autoimmune health, and the specific technologies - non-invasive MRI biomarkers, XIST-based blood screening, multimodal AI diagnostics and ultrasound cavitation therapy - represent concrete approaches that may influence clinical trial design, diagnostic workflows and therapeutic development in the next three to five years. For researchers and clinicians tracking the pipeline from bench to bedside, the Studio Red model also offers a window into how the American Heart Association is pairing grant funding with commercialization support to move discoveries toward real-world application faster.
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