The American Heart Association has selected Emily S. Lau, M.D., M.P.H., FAHA, a cardiologist and investigator at Mass General Brigham in Boston, to receive the 2026 Dr. Nanette K. Wenger Research Goes Red® Award. The award will be presented during the Association's Scientific Sessions 2026, to be held Nov. 6-9 in Chicago, a premier global exchange of cardiovascular science. Dr. Lau will be honored at the annual Dr. Nanette K. Wenger Research Goes Red® Award for Best Scientific Article on Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke in Women session on Saturday, Nov. 7.
The award, named after pioneering women's cardiovascular disease researcher Nanette K. Wenger, M.D., FAHA, recognizes the best research article on cardiovascular disease and stroke in women published in one of the Association's peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Lau was selected for her manuscript, "Contemporary Burden of Cardiovascular Disease in Pregnancy: Insights from a Real-World Pregnancy Electronic Health Record Cohort," published online in Circulation on Oct. 6, 2025.
The study analyzed 56,833 pregnancies among 38,996 individuals treated between 2001 and 2019. It found that maternal cardiovascular disease was present in 4% of pregnancies overall, or 8% after adjusting for age. The age-adjusted prevalence rose from 1% in 2001 to 7% in 2019. Pregnancy-related cardiovascular complications, including maternal death, major adverse cardiovascular events and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, occurred in 15% of pregnancies overall, or 17% after adjusting for age, and also increased over the study period. Complications were more common among individuals entering pregnancy with conditions such as high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes or obesity, and were disproportionately higher among non-Hispanic Black women.
These findings highlight the period before, during and after pregnancy as a critical window to identify cardiovascular risk earlier and connect patients with preventive care. The implications are significant: as more individuals enter pregnancy with cardiovascular risk factors, the health system must adapt to screen for and manage these risks routinely. "Dr. Lau's research demonstrates the urgent need to make cardiovascular health a routine part of care before, during and after pregnancy," said Jennifer Hall, Ph.D., FAHA, chief of data science and analytics at the American Heart Association. "By documenting how cardiovascular disease and pregnancy-related complications have increased over time, this study identifies an important opportunity to recognize risk earlier, address disparities and help more women protect their heart health throughout their lives."
Dr. Lau's manuscript was chosen from 130 submissions from 18 countries published between June 1, 2025, and May 29, 2026, and evaluated by 32 expert peer reviewers. "It is a tremendous honor to receive an award bearing Dr. Wenger's name and to share this recognition with my co-authors," Dr. Lau said. "Our findings show that more individuals are entering pregnancy with cardiovascular risk factors and cardiovascular disease, and pregnancy-related cardiovascular complications are also increasing in parallel. Pregnancy provides a critical opportunity to identify risk, strengthen prevention and help women build better cardiovascular health across their lifetime."
Dr. Lau is co-director of the Mass General Brigham Women's Heart Health Program and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Her research examines how biological sex differences and female-specific risk factors contribute to cardiovascular disease. Additional multimedia is available on the release link. For more information about the American Heart Association, visit heart.org or stroke.org. The original release is available on www.newmediawire.com.
