Women’s Health Research at Yale Announces 2025 Pilot Project Program Awards

Women’s Health Research at Yale today announced two new research awards, one aimed at better diagnosing cerebral and coronary vascular dysfunction in young women and the second to test a targeted therapy for hand vasculopathy. The research awards are part of Women’s Health Research at Yale’s Pilot Project Program, initiated in 1998.

“This year’s Women’s Health Research at Yale Pilot Projects focus on saving lives by identifying strokes and heart disease that are each more likely to be underdiagnosed in women, and reducing the severe adverse outcomes of reduced blood flow to the hands that can occur with autoimmune disorders that are more prevalent in women,” says Carolyn M. Mazure, PhD, Norma Weinberg Spungen and Joan Lebson Bildner Professor in Women’s Health Research, professor of psychiatry and psychology, and director of Women’s Health Research at Yale. “The principal investigators (PIs) join more than 100 of their faculty colleagues who we have funded—all of whom work to determine how understanding sex differences in health and disease inform interventions of practical health benefit for both women and men. Through our Pilot Project Program, which has served as a model for research centers across the nation, investigators have explored conditions affecting women uniquely, disproportionately, or differently, and produced the necessary data for new external grants totaling over 20 times our initial investment.”

This year’s Wendy U. & Thomas C. Naratil Pioneer Award will support a vascular neurologist and interventional cardiologist as co-PIs in their efforts to establish a link between two underdiagnosed syndromes—reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome (RCVS) and coronary vasospasm—which cause dynamic narrowing of blood vessels in the brain and heart, respectively. Heart disease and stroke, where blood flow to the heart or brain is impaired, are the leading causes of death among women and affect more than 6 million women in the United States.

Reshma Narula, MD, associate professor of neurology (vascular neurology), and Samit Shah, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine (cardiovascular medicine), will analyze more than a decade of clinical data to assess the prevalence of RCVS and identify potential links with coronary vasospasm and other forms of ischemic heart disease. The goal is to highlight common risk factors for dynamic cerebral and coronary vascular dysfunction in young women, which would improve clinical awareness, guide diagnostic testing, and lead to targeted therapies.

“Over time, we recognized that many patients I’m caring for as a neurologist are also being seen by cardiologists and, more often than not, these patients are young women. We can really make a difference in people’s lives by giving them a proper, linked diagnosis, more control over their health and, in turn, improved outcomes,” says Narula.

“Cardiovascular disease is systemic, not just affecting any one organ, so collaboration is essential. Linking these two conditions, which disproportionately affect women—and young women at that—has the potential to transform clinical practice, reduce sex-based disparities, and ultimately save lives,” says Shah.

Jeff Gehlhausen, MD, PhD, assistant professor in dermatology, received this year’s second Pilot Project Program award. As a physician-scientist, Gehlhausen will test the efficacy of botulinum toxin injections, commonly called Botox, at the site of hand vasculopathy (reduced blood flow) in women with complex autoimmune-based skin conditions. Hand vasculopathy is a condition where impaired blood flow to the hand and fingers leads to severe pain, tissue damage, sores, ulcers, and in extreme cases, amputation.

Current treatments rely on medications that dilate blood vessels throughout the entire body, often causing debilitating side effects like severe headaches and low blood pressure, forcing patients to choose between managing symptoms or enduring medication side effects. For the individuals enrolled in the two study, researchers will evaluate clinical improvements over time while collecting blood and tissue samples to understand the underlying biological mechanisms. This approach addresses a significant gap in women’s health, as 80% of people diagnosed with autoimmune diseases are women. This project aims to generate data for larger clinical trials and eventually FDA approval of this novel application.

“This investment from Women’s Health Research at Yale is confirmation that this work is important and that these patients deserve better treatment options in the near future. The preliminary data this project will generate becomes the foundation of hope for patients affected by this painful condition,” says Gehlhausen.

To learn more about Women’s Health Research at Yale, visit medicine.yale.edu/whr.

About Women’s Health Research at Yale

Women’s Health Research at Yale is an interdisciplinary research center within Yale School of Medicine. Its mission is to improve the health and well-being of everyone. The center studies a wide breadth of topics from cardiovascular disease to cancers and the health of women, examining health differences between and among women and men. Since its founding in 1998 by current director Carolyn M. Mazure, PhD, Women’s Health Research at Yale has been recognized as a national model for launching research, translating findings, sharing health information with the public and policymakers, and providing mentored training in interdisciplinary team science. Follow Women’s Health Research at Yale on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, and Instagram and subscribe to its newsletter, Innovations in Women’s Health.