Emily S. Lau, M.D., M.P.H., FAHA, a cardiologist and investigator at Mass General Brigham in Boston, has been named the recipient of the American Heart Association's 2026 Dr. Nanette K. Wenger Research Goes Red® Award. The award, which honors the pioneering career of Dr. Nanette K. Wenger in women's cardiovascular medicine, recognizes the best research article on cardiovascular disease and stroke in women published in one of the Association's peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Lau will receive the honor during the Association's Scientific Sessions 2026, to be held Nov. 6-9 in Chicago, at a special session on Saturday, Nov. 7.
The significance of this recognition extends beyond the individual accolade. Dr. Lau's winning manuscript, "Contemporary Burden of Cardiovascular Disease in Pregnancy: Insights from a Real-World Pregnancy Electronic Health Record Cohort," published in Circulation on Oct. 6, 2025, provides compelling evidence that cardiovascular disease in pregnancy has surged dramatically over the past two decades. The study analyzed 56,833 pregnancies among 38,996 individuals between 2001 and 2019, revealing that the age-adjusted prevalence of maternal cardiovascular disease increased 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 17% of pregnancies after age adjustment and also rose over the study period.
These findings carry profound implications for clinical practice and public health. They highlight the period before, during, and after pregnancy as a critical opportunity to identify cardiovascular risk earlier and connect patients with preventive care. The study also found that complications were disproportionately higher among non-Hispanic Black women, underscoring persistent disparities that demand targeted interventions. As Jennifer Hall, Ph.D., FAHA, chief of data science and analytics at the American Heart Association, noted, "Dr. Lau's research demonstrates the urgent need to make cardiovascular health a routine part of care before, during and after pregnancy."
The award's namesake, Dr. Nanette K. Wenger, is an emeritus professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine and a founding consultant to the Emory Women's Heart Center. Her legacy continues through this award, which aims to inspire research that addresses sex-specific factors in cardiovascular disease. The Research Goes Red® initiative, which underpins the award, seeks to empower women to contribute to health research, recognizing that women have historically been underrepresented in cardiovascular studies.
Dr. Lau's selection from 130 submissions across 18 countries speaks to the rigor and impact of her work. She serves as co-director of the Mass General Brigham Women's Heart Health Program and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Her research integrates molecular profiling, imaging, exercise physiology, and data science to understand how biological sex differences and female-specific risk factors contribute to cardiovascular disease across the lifespan, including pregnancy, infertility, menopause, and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. For more information about the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions and its initiatives, visit release link or heart.org. The Association also provides resources on stroke prevention at stroke.org.
Dr. Lau's achievement is a call to action for the medical community. As she stated, "Pregnancy provides a critical opportunity to identify risk, strengthen prevention and help women build better cardiovascular health across their lifetime." By documenting the rising burden of cardiovascular disease in pregnancy, her research not only honors Dr. Wenger's legacy but also sets a new benchmark for women's heart health, emphasizing the need for systemic changes in how cardiovascular risk is assessed and managed before, during, and after pregnancy.
