Driving Change for Women in Research

Transforming heart health for women through better research, stronger collaboration, and informed clinical care.

Women are under-represented in research

Despite the fact that women make up just over half the population, 2/3 of heart disease clinical research focuses on men.

Help us change these statistics by:

Increase the representation of women in research.
Require the inclusion of sex/gender AND racialization considerations in research protocol methodology, results analysis, and discussion, for all levels of research, including registries.

Participate in Research

Explore research opportunities across Canada and learn how you can join a study as a participant.

Promote your Research

Researchers and scientists: submit your study and registry details to be included in our online research catalogue.

Collaborate on Projects

Interested in contributing as a patient partner or seeking collaboration on a grant submission?

Clinical guidelines are based on research evidence.

Therefore, medical decisions for women are being made based on research evidence about how heart disease is displayed in men.

Why were women not included in the research?

It has been reported that it is more difficult to find women willing to volunteer for research studies, partly due to women’s significant roles and responsibilities in other facets of their lives.

This is a problem because without women participating in research studies, there will continue to be limited insight on how heart disease impacts women differently.

Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. 2018 Heart report: Ms. Understood. 2018

As a result, strategies used to identify and treat heart disease are primarily based on data from middle-aged, white, male subjects.

The Canadian Women’s Heart Health Alliance is driving change by:

Online Research Platform

Creating an online platform for researchers to promote their research, and for the public to find opportunities to join research studies.

Research & Knowledge Generation Theme

Launching a Research and Knowledge Generation Theme with the goal to maximize research impact and build a diverse, collaborative, and sustainable network of researchers, clinicians, trainees, patient and community partners, working together to improve knowledge generation regarding cardiovascular health for women in Canada.

National Women’s Cardiovascular Health Hub

Becoming the Canadian Women’s Cardiovascular Health Hub within the National Women’s Health Research Initiative: Pan-Canadian Women’s Health Coalition. The Coalition will be composed of hubs across Canada linked through a coordinating centre that will work together to maximize the visibility and impact of women’s health research and practice in Canada.

ATLAS: State of Women’s Cardiovascular Health

Publishing a living document on the current state of cardiovascular disease in women in Canada, known as the ATLAS. Within this collection of 9 chapters, published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology Open, Chapter 8: Knowledge Gaps and Status of Existing Research Programs in Canada summarizes the existing education and research on cardiovascular disease in Canadian women, knowledge gaps to guide future research; and recommends prioritizing women’s heart health in research, leading to systemic changes in education and public health policies.

References