Advancing women’s heart health research

Behnood Bikdeli, MD, MS, an investigator in the Corrigan-Minehan Division of Cardiology at Mass General Brigham Heart and Vascular Institute, treats many patients who have experienced a pulmonary embolism, a blood clot that travels to the arteries in the lungs.

It turns out that more than half of these patients are women, but the condition often presents differently in women than in men. Thanks to a philanthropy-funded IGNITE Award, Bikdeli has been able to pursue research to identify sex differences in pulmonary embolism. The IGNITE Awards program supports early-career researchers to further their understanding of how diseases may impact women differently from men and to drive new therapies and clinical approaches.

In this video, Bikdeli provides a view into the clinic and describes his research. Primavera “Vera” A. Spagnolo, MD, PhD, the interim executive director of the Connors Center for Women’s Health Research at Mass General Brigham, underscores the role philanthropy plays in supporting innovative investigators like Bikdeli in their work to advance women’s health research.