Research teams from Augusta University, Massachusetts General Hospital and The Ohio State University will lead a $15 million project dedicated to studying the various ways that risk factors for cardiovascular and kidney diseases impact women. The American Heart Association’s Strategically Focused Research Network (SFRN) on Cardiovascular Kidney Metabolic Syndrome: Heterogeneity in Women aims to learn why women may be more likely to develop cardiovascular and kidney diseases due to certain unique risk factors and life stages.

The American Heart Association, a global force changing the future of health for all, funds Strategically Focused Research Networks (SFRN) as part of its mission to be a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives. Research teams apply for the program’s four-year grants with novel and innovative ideas to better understand cardiovascular diseases impacted by each SFRN focus, the latest of which is cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) syndrome.

CKM syndrome is a clinical term that describes the combined health effects of heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes and obesity, which puts people at high risk for heart attack, stroke and heart failure. According to the American Heart Association’s 2025 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics, about 1 in 3 U.S. adults has at least three components of CKM syndrome, which include high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol, high blood glucose (sugar), impaired kidney function and excess body weight.

Understanding the interconnections of cardiovascular, kidney and metabolic conditions including diabetes and obesity is critical, especially as many of the contributing risk factors are on the rise. Women are historically underrepresented in clinical research, so we don’t have a solid understanding of why many of these risk factors are often more prevalent in and impact women differently than men. Learning more about the biological significance of certain life cycles including menopause and pregnancy, as well as societal factors and the roles of community, relationships and individual behaviors could provide important insight to foster the development of targeted preventive strategies, tailored therapeutic approaches and ultimately help change the future of health for all.”

Keith Churchwell, M.D., FAHA, American Heart Association volunteer president, associate clinical Professor of Medicine at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut and adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine at the Vanderbilt School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee

The four-year awards, which started April 1, 2025, include collaborative research projects across all three groups. Additionally, to further the American Heart Association’s commitments to expanding diversity in clinical research, each of the centers will work in conjunction with an academic institution that primarily serves individuals who are underrepresented in science. The research centers and the projects include:

• Augusta University – This center will be led by Jennifer Sullivan, Ph.D., FAHA, dean of the graduate school and a professor of physiology at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University in Augusta, Georgia, and will include a collaboration with a team from Augusta University College of Science and Mathematics. The center teams will undertake three different projects focused on the lifelong effects of obesity on CKM syndrome. The first research study will focus on how weight gain affects males and females differently and how aging affects metabolism in males and females. In the second project, the team will conduct research to determine if excess fat in obesity is harmful in pregnancy, leading to health problems for both the mother and the growing baby. And in the third project, the team will analyze previously collected data across many years and many people to discover more about the known risk factors for CKM syndrome, as well as look for new risk factors and body processes that might help in understanding more about the condition and how to prevent it. Additionally, the team will talk to women and healthcare providers from a variety of backgrounds and experiences to assess current knowledge and interest levels in heart health and use that information to develop programs that may help treat and prevent disease.
• Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General) – This center will be led by Michael Honigberg, M.D., M.P.P., FAHA, a cardiologist and researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston and will include a collaboration with teams from Salem State University in Salem, Massachusetts, as well as Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. The center teams will undertake three different research projects focused on how pregnancy history and other female-specific risk factors may provide clues about a woman’s risk for future CKM syndrome and heart disease. In the first project, the team will test the effect of excess body weight on the placenta in both mice and humans to determine if excess body weight causes the placenta to produce proteins that have harmful effects on the mother’s heart, blood vessels and kidneys. In the second research project, the team will study women with high body weight and high blood pressure during pregnancy. They will test whether targeted medication use briefly after a pregnancy complicated by high blood pressure can improve blood pressure and heart structure over the long term. In the third study, the team will analyze data from several large studies that capture various events across a woman’s lifespan. They will examine how CKM health markers in pregnancy predict heart disease, how risk factors specific to women and CKM syndrome stage drive heart disease in women and how CKM health markers influence treatment response in women with heart failure. They hope their findings will help to improve the prediction, prevention and treatment of heart disease in women.
• The Ohio State University – This center will be led by Joshua Joseph, M.D., M.P.H., FAHA, an associate professor of internal medicine and the Endowed Professor for Research in Internal Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus and will include a collaboration with teams at University of Alabama-Birmingham and Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama. Through the center’s Beyond One Size Fits All (B-FIT) initiative, the teams will undertake three different projects as a multi-dimensional approach to CKM health in women. The first project – DASH-CKMH – will look at how different medicines work for men and women to improve heart health, using real-life data. The second project – Food and Fitness WITH Medicine – is a study that combines healthy eating, exercise and medicine to help older women stay on their health treatments and improve their heart health. The third project – Inspire HER – is a community program that supports women in making healthy lifestyle changes to improve heart health. All these projects share a common goal: helping women live healthier lives by creating solutions. The team uses research, training programs, and teamwork between different universities to develop better treatments. B-FIT also runs training programs for students and young scientists to help them become experts in heart, kidney and metabolic health. In the future, this team aims to turn research into real-world healthcare solutions so more women, especially those from under-resourced communities, can get the care they need.

The American Heart Association has invested almost $300 million to establish 18 Strategically Focused Research Networks, each aimed at addressing a key strategic issue identified by the Association’s volunteer Board of Directors. Prior networks have been studying a wide variety of important topics including, but not limited to, prevention; hypertension; the health of women; heart failure; obesity; vascular disease; atrial fibrillation; arrhythmias/sudden cardiac death; cardiometabolic health/type 2 diabetes; health technology; cardio-oncology; the biological impact of chronic psychosocial stress and the role of inflammation in cardiovascular health. Each network centers around scientific knowledge and knowledge gaps, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the key research topic. Three to six research centers make up each network, bringing together investigators with expertise in basic, clinical and population/behavioral health science to find new ways to diagnose, treat and prevent heart disease and stroke.

Funding scientific research and discovery through initiatives like these awards is a cornerstone of the century-old American Heart Association’s lifesaving mission. The Association has now funded more than $5.9 billion in cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and brain health research since 1949, making it the single largest non-government supporter of heart and brain health research in the U.S. New knowledge resulting from this funding continues to save lives and directly impact millions of people in every corner of the U.S. and around the world.