A cardiologist and investigator at Mass General Brigham in Boston has been selected to receive the American Heart Association’s 2026 Dr. Nanette K. Wenger Research Goes Red® Award for her scientific manuscript documenting a significant rise in cardiovascular disease and complications during pregnancy. Emily S. Lau, M.D., M.P.H., FAHA, will be honored at the Association’s Scientific Sessions 2026, to be held Nov. 6-9 in Chicago, during a session on Saturday, Nov. 7. The award, named for pioneering women’s cardiovascular specialist 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’s study, “Contemporary Burden of Cardiovascular Disease in Pregnancy: Insights from a Real-World Pregnancy Electronic Health Record Cohort,” was published online in Circulation on Oct. 6, 2025. Using electronic health records from 56,833 pregnancies among 38,996 individuals treated between 2001 and 2019, the research 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 age adjustment, and also increased over the study period.
The implications are stark: more individuals are entering pregnancy with cardiovascular conditions or risk factors such as high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes or obesity, and complications are 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. “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 selected from 130 submissions from 18 countries, 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 work, supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and others, has advanced understanding of cardiovascular health across women’s lives, including pregnancy, infertility, menopause and heart failure. Multimedia is available on the right column of the release link. For more information on heart health, visit heart.org and stroke.org. The original release can be viewed on www.newmediawire.com.
