Redefining Women's Health Translational Grant

• Proposals must be received no later than 3 p.m. Central Time on the deadline date. Early submission is encouraged. The American Heart Association does not accept late proposal submissions, grant extension requests, or have an appeals process.

• Before beginning an application, see the American Heart Association Application Resources page for requirements that apply to all research awards. Also view the association's research Policies and Statements.

• Proposals must be submitted electronically via Proposal Central. The system will open eight weeks prior to the application deadline to complete the proposal and upload required documents. Applicant can create required documents in advance; refer to the American Heart Association Application Instructions (PDF). All submissions require the signature of a designated institutional representative.

• Applicants must be Heart Association Professional Members at the time of proposal submission. Join or renew when preparing an application in Proposal Central, or by phone at +1-888-242-2453 or 214-570-5935. Membership processing may take 3-5 days; do not wait until the application deadline to renew or join.

Studio Red/Go Red for Women Fund/American Heart Association invites researchers, clinicians, entrepreneurs, and innovators to submit pre-proposals for funding consideration to advance groundbreaking research and novel solutions in women’s health. Selected pre-proposals will be invited to submit full proposals for competitive grants that aim to close critical knowledge and care gaps. 

A total of $500,000 is available to fund up to five (5) investigators / investigative teams ($100,000 each) proposing innovative technologies that disproportionally or exclusively impact women’s health.

During the one-year award period, Studio Red will provide support and educational content on intellectual property (IP), regulatory strategy, reimbursement and commercialization strategies, and fundraising etc. to grantees via monthly webinar sessions for the duration of the grant period. A required condition for accepting the award will be to have representative attendance at a minimum of 80% of these monthly webinars.

Studio Red will also provide 1:1 support specifically around pitch development, as the culmination of the award period will be an in-person Capstone Event where all awardees will be required to participate in a pitch competition. Of the participating grantees, 1-2 awardees may be selected for advancement in Studio Red to incubate as an early company with additional support to help the team reach key funding milestones. Upon successful completion of the Studio Red incubation process, the goal would be to have at least one of these companies created and ready for follow on funding and external launch.

Importantly, we are seeking to fund research that helps innovators advance their ideas and work effort to a point where, within 12-18 months, the resulting evidence enables commercialization work to begin toward products or services that could become market-facing solutions.

Purpose/Background:
Despite significant progress in biomedical and bioscience research, many conditions that disproportionately, differently, or distinctly impact women remain underdiagnosed, undertreated, and underfunded. This call focuses on three priority areas where transformative science and innovation are urgently needed.

The research of today is the commercial solution set of tomorrow; our goal is to fund late stage scientific and clinical innovation so these solutions can ultimately be advanced into practice for the benefit of patients and the clinicians and families who care for them.

Priority Innovation Topics:

• Cardio-Oncology – diagnostic, risk-stratification, and interventional device technologies^{[TW2.1][LY2.2]} 
• Atrial Fibrillation in Women – solutions that advance early detection
• Circadian Science – sleep, mental health, or environmental technologies
  
  Note that therapeutic drug and related solutions are not eligible.  This program is not meant to fund drug discovery, development or related activities.

Cardio-Oncology: Diagnostic, Risk-Stratification, and Interventional Technologies

• Market & Burden: Patients actively receiving cardiotoxic cancer therapies, as well as cancer survivors who have had these therapies face increased risks for cardiovascular complications that can interrupt treatment, worsen outcomes, increase long-term care needs and lead to heart disease. Women, specifically, may experience distinct risks based on cancer type, treatment exposure, life stage, and underlying cardiovascular health. Advances in image analysis technology may also provide opportunities for cardiovascular risk identification, particularly in women undergoing routine cancer screening. For example, mammography-based measures such as breast arterial calcification (BAC) have shown potential to identify women at elevated cardiovascular risk, highlighting the need for diagnostic and risk-stratification tools that can translate these findings into actionable clinical care.

• Clinical Considerations: Current care pathways do not consistently integrate early cardiovascular risk assessment, longitudinal monitoring, and timely intervention across oncology and cardiology settings to mitigate risk or address cardiovascular related complications.
  
  
• Research Gaps: Translational solutions are needed for earlier detection of and intervention for compromised cardiovascular health as a result of oncologic treatment; this includes individualized risk stratification, treatment monitoring, and interventions that protect cardiovascular health without compromising cancer care.

Atrial Fibrillation in Women: Early Detection Solutions

• Market & Burden: Atrial fibrillation is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia in adults. It increases the risk of stroke, heart failure, and other cardiovascular complications but can be intermittent and asymptomatic, making early identification difficult. Women are commonly diagnosed later than men due to different symptom presentation, and typically are only offered advanced treatment interventions late in the course of the condition. As a result, they may experience substantial stroke and symptom burden, creating a need for accessible detection approaches that work in real-world settings and reduce the time it takes from symptom onset to diagnosis and intervention. In addition, symptoms reported by women are more often attributed to stress and anxiety than to the underlying cause of atrial fibrillation, leading to missed signals and a missed opportunity for early diagnosis.

• Clinical Considerations: Consumer and clinical wearables generate growing volumes of rhythm and physiologic data, but performance, workflow integration, follow-up pathways, and equitable access remain key barriers to adoption.

• Research Gaps: Research is needed to create solutions that reduce false alerts, identify clinically meaningful episodes, and connect detection to timely diagnostic confirmation and treatment. 

Circadian Science: Sleep, Mental Health, or Environmental Technologies

• Market & Burden: Sleep patterns, light exposure, work schedules, and other environmental factors all have documented influence on cardiovascular and brain health. Women, specifically, may experience changing circadian pressures across different life stages and caregiving or occupational contexts.
  
  
• Clinical Considerations: Circadian medicine is an evolving field. Many existing tools measure isolated behaviors or exposures without integrating longitudinal physiologic, behavioral, mental health, and environmental data into actionable insights. Gaps exist between consumer products and medical grade products.
  
  
• Research Gaps: Innovative sensing, digital assessment, predictive analytics, and interventions are needed to characterize circadian disruption and translate personalized insights into feasible changes in medical intervention, health behaviors or care delivery by the healthcare system and/or in a form that activates patient/consumers.

Proposed projects may include—but are not limited to—translational research as it pertains to late stage (not basic research) scientific, medical and clinical advancements involving any of the following novel approaches: digital health tools; differential diagnostics; predictive analytics; devices, bioelectric medical approaches and innovative care delivery models. Cross-disciplinary collaborations and community-engaged approaches are strongly encouraged. 

Therapeutics or drug development proposals will not be considered. We are seeking to fund research that helps innovators advance their ideas and work effort to a point where, within 12-18 months, the resulting evidence enables commercialization work to begin toward products or services that could become market-facing solutions.

Translational Potential:
Only proposals with a feasible path for implementation, scalability and potential commercialization will be considered.  Awards will be made only to eligible nonprofit institutions described in the Relevant Policies and Requirements section below. However, inclusion of subcontracted industry partners who have expertise in key areas of the proposed studies is encouraged.

Governance/Oversight:
Studio Red will provide support and educational content on IP, regulatory strategy, reimbursement and commercialization strategies, fundraising and pitch development etc. to grantees via monthly webinar sessions for the duration of the grant period.  Grantees will be required to attend at least 80% of these webinars. ^{[TW3.1][LY3.2]} 

Timelines and Milestones:
Grantees will be required to prepare a pitch deck and present their work at a virtual midpoint presentation to key stakeholders from the American Heart Association, including Studio Red, Go Red for Women (GRFW) Fund, and the Heart Association broadly. Feedback, including additional recommendations and programming to support the remainder of the grant period, and final presentation selection criteria will be provided at this meeting.

Final pitch presentations will be judged at a Capstone Event at the end of the award period where 1-2 ideas may be selected for Studio Red incubation.

• At the time of proposal submission, the applicant must hold an MD, PhD, DO, DVM, DDS, DNP, or equivalent post-baccalaureate doctoral degree.

• Academic investigators, clinical researchers, academic researchers or investigators associated with startup companies, and non-profit innovators are eligible. Only eligible non-profit institutions may create and submit a proposal. 
  
  
• Collaborative proposals spanning disciplines (e.g., cardiology + data science, gynecology + bioengineering) are welcome.
  
  
• Applicant must be a Heart Association Professional Member at the time of pre-proposal submission.
  
  
• Applicants must register as peer reviewers as part of the pre-proposal submission process.
   
• Heart Association research awards are limited to U.S.-based non-profit institutions, including medical, osteopathic, and dental schools, veterinary schools, schools of public health, pharmacy schools, nursing schools, universities and colleges, public and voluntary hospitals and others that can demonstrate the ability to conduct the proposed research.
  
  
• Applicant must have one of the following designations at the time of proposal submission – not award start date, depending on career stage and each individual’s situation. An awardee must maintain one of the designations listed below throughout the duration of the award. Please consult with your institution’s grant officer.

• U.S. citizen
• Permanent resident
• Pending permanent resident (must have filed Form I-485 for permanent resident status and obtained an
• I-797C Notice of Action that the application has been received by USCIS and case is pending)
• E-3 Visa - specialty occupation worker
• G-4 Visa - family member of an international organization employee
• H1-B Visa - temporary worker in a specialty occupation
• 1B or equivalent by the proposal due date)
• O-1 Visa - temporary worker with extraordinary abilities in the sciences
• TN Visa - NAFTA Professional
• DACA - Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals

At the time of award activation:

• This program places no limit on eligibility based on career stage, academic rank or discipline. It requires only evidence of employment at a qualified institution. 
  
  
• While no minimum percent effort is specified, the principal investigator must demonstrate that adequate time will be devoted to ensuring successful completion of the proposed project.

All pre-proposals will be submitted via ProposalCentral and require the following three documents:

1. Research Proposal – up to 5 pages, inclusive of all sections noted below. Please address all of the following points:

A. Concept:

• Clearly and explicitly articulate the project's innovation and the potential impact on the health of women as a core focus.
• Provide a solid rationale for the work.
• Discuss new avenues of investigation that will be revealed, if successful.
• Innovation – Novelty of the proposed approach or technology.
• Impact – Anticipated outcomes and potential to reduce disparities in women’s health.

B. Research Plan: Describe specific studies you will conduct in addressing the seminal question(s) you propose to pursue. Presentation of studies as a set of Specific Aims is acceptable but not required. Include:

• A description of the technological approaches you plan to utilize and /or develop in the pursuit of your studies.
• A description of the required datasets, images, health and other records, etc. that will be required to conduct your proposed studies, as well as your access to these resources.

• For studies involving human subjects/human subject records, projects must include study participants/records who are under-represented and/or underserved with regard to healthcare delivery. The proportion of these individuals/records in proposed studies should be reflective, at a minimum, of their representation in the population in which these individuals/records exist.

• An anticipated timeline for achieving key milestones over the course of this one-year study.
  
  
• [Optional, but strongly encouraged] Video – provide a link to a 2-minute video briefly describing your background and research area

C. Team: Describe the research team key personnel and why they have been sought out for these studies. Include:

• The team’s experience with translating research from bench to business (if any). Please identify and include details of the team member(s) who will be the lead for pitch deck development and presentation at the Capstone Event at the conclusion of the award period.
  The team’s experience with and/or capacity to develop new tools and methods that support creative approaches to the questions under study.
  The lead applicant/institution’s capacity to receive and manage research awards of the scale available.

D. Ethical, Legal and Social Implications: Describe the ethical, legal and social implications that are likely to be pertinent for your proposed  studies and how you will positively address them.

E. Development/commercialization Plan: Should your studies be successful, describe the opportunity for their development and potential commercialization. A full business plan is not required. However, applicants should address the following:

• What is the market opportunity for the anticipated product/technology/service that could result from your research and what is a reasonable timeline for development and commercialization?

• Following conclusion of the studies as proposed, what additional resources – financial, business development expertise, etc. – might be needed, and what are possible opportunities/venues for identifying and securing these resources to bring a program/product/service to commercial viability?

2.  Biosketch (Principal Investigator only, NIH format)

Heart Association biosketch requirement: All applicants (excluding fellows) are to explicitly state in the biosketch supplement how they contribute to a safe and inclusive work environment. In addition, mentors on Fellowships and Career Development Awards should complete recognized training specific to sexual and gender-based harassment.

3.  Literature Cited (four-page limit)

NO OTHER UPLOADS ARE PERMITTED at the Pre-Proposal stage. 

Required Pre-Proposal Review

Only applicants who submit a pre-proposal will be eligible to be considered for invitation to full application.

For the required pre-proposal submission, the Association will perform an asynchronous peer review with scientific and business volunteer experts to assess the eligibility of the applicants and the relevance of their submissions to the competition's purpose, objectives, and research areas.

Pre-proposals that do not align with the competition guidelines will be withdrawn. Please note that there is no formal appeal process once decisions are made.

• Proposed Research Plan (10 pages)
• Biosketch
• Budget Justification Form (DOCX) (2 pages)
• Literature Cited (4 pages)
• Vertebrate Animal Subjects, if applicable (no page limit)

Third Party Personnel (if applicable)                 

• Collaborating Investigator's Biosketch
• Collaborating Investigator's Letter (5 pages)
• Consultant's Letter (5 pages)

Applicants are also required to complete the following items to be entered into form fields in ProposalCentral:

• Project Summary - Write a concise description or abstract describing the work proposed. This should be as brief as possible, since you also will be required to upload a separate pre-proposal document. Note: This field will not accept any special characters or keystrokes (e.g., β, π, etc.).

• Non-Scientist Summary - Enter a description of the project that is written to be understood by non-scientists. This information may be reviewed by people who do not have scientific or medical backgrounds. Be clear and avoid technical and scientific terms, when possible. When formulating your lay summary, it might help to imagine that you are explaining your work to a new acquaintance who does not work in the science field. NOTE: It is incumbent upon the applicant to make a clear link between the proposed project and the mission of the American Heart Association.

Format/Type Requirements

• Documents must be single-spaced.
• No more than 15 characters per inch (cpi) or an average of no more than 15 cpi (cpi includes symbols, punctuation, and spaces).
• No less than ¾” page margins on all four sides.
• Maximum of 50 lines per page.
• Arial Font style, 12-point font size for Windows users; Helvetica Font style, 12-point font size for Macintosh users.
• Only Portable Document Format (PDF) files are accepted.

Note: The ProposalCentral electronic system will reject a document that exceeds the page limit.

The American Heart Association has the responsibility to make final determination of conformance to format requirements and the authority to withdraw applications. This decision is final and not subject to appeal.

Peer Review Criteria for Invited Full Proposals

Applications will undergo peer review by a grant review panel (“Review Panel”), convened and overseen by the Heart Association and selected solely at the Heart Association's discretion.

The Review Panel will include expert scientific, clinical, and business reviewers in the priority topic areas. Expert reviewers may include international members as well as reviewers from the USA. Additional ad-hoc reviewers may be obtained to bring additional expertise to support the review process. The Review Panel may meet in person or virtually at the discretion of the American Heart Association. 

Applicants are prohibited from contacting American Heart Association peer reviewers. This is a form of scientific misconduct and will result in the removal of the application from funding consideration and institutional notification of misconduct.

Restrictions: Peer Reviewers:  The American Heart Association  DOES NOT permit the use of a large language model (LLM – e.g., ChatGPT) or an artificial intelligence tool to generate and/or edit content in peer review critiques. Uploading of any portion of a research proposal into a large language model (LLM – e.g., ChatGPT) or an artificial intelligence tool to assist in writing a critique of the proposal is explicitly prohibited as it is a violation of The American Heart Association’s Peer Reviewer Certification Statement (to include confidentiality, non-disclosure, and conflict of interest). 

The American Heart Association reserves the right to an initial triage, whereby a minimum of half of the submissions may be triaged.

Applicants should never contact reviewers regarding their applications. Discussing the content of an application or attempting to influence review outcome will constitute a conflict of interest in the review. Reviewers must notify the AHA if an applicant contacts them.

To judge the merit of the application, reviewers will comment on the following criteria. Fully address these in your proposal.

1. Innovation: Assessment of the proposal's innovative nature -- Is the proposal innovative, original and have the potential to ultimately lead to critical knowledge or major advancements that will accelerate the field of women’s health? For example: Does the proposal challenge existing paradigms and present an innovative hypothesis or address a critical barrier to progress in the field? Does the proposal develop or employ novel concepts, approaches, methodologies, tools, or technologies for this area?
2. Impact: Does the proposed research differentially or disproportionally or exclusively impact women’s health? Does the proposal have a high probability of sustained and powerful influence on the research field(s) of study? How does this proposal relate to and support the mission of the American Heart Association: to be a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives? This potential impact assessment will be based primarily on the Summary for Non-scientists. This assessment will be factored into the Impact peer review criterion, which will account for 5-10% of the overall priority score. Does the proposed research disproportionally or exclusively impact women’s health?
3. Significance: Does this proposal address an important problem directly related to the above-described fields of women’s health? If the aims of the application are achieved and the work is taken to its ultimate conclusion, will clinical practice and our outcomes be significantly impacted? Will there be an effect on the concepts, methods, and technologies that drive this field?
4. Approach: Are the conceptual framework, design, methods and analyses adequately developed, integrated, well-reasoned and appropriate to the aims of the proposal? Does the applicant acknowledge potential problem areas and consider alternative tactics?
5. Investigator: Is the principal investigator appropriately trained and suited to carry out this work, even if it is a new area of investigation? Does the investigative team bring complementary, appropriately qualified, and integrated expertise to the proposal (if applicable)? All applicants (excluding fellows) are to include a statement in the Personal Statement section of their biographical sketch that explicitly states how they contribute to a safe and inclusive work environment.
6. Environment: Does the environment in which the work will be done contribute to the probability of success? Does the proposal demonstrate that resources will be available to complete the project? Does the proposed benefit from specific unique features of the environment, or subject populations, or employ useful collaborative arrangements?
7. Lay Summary/Summary for Non-Scientists: How well written is the lay summary in explaining to a non-scientist audience the research proposed and importance? Does the Lay Summary adequately explain the major health problem being addressed by this study? Does it provide specific questions and how the project will address them? Does it provide information on the overall impact of this work and the potential advances in the field? Does it relay how the proposal supports the mission of the American Heart Association?
8. Business and Commercialization Impact: Is there a high likelihood that the research could translate into a viable commercial product and/or service? What is the size and scope of the U.S. market opportunity and what could this advancement replace or improve in the delivery of care to patients?
   
    

Intellectual Property: Any inventions, intellectual property, and patents resulting from this funding are governed by the American Heart Association's Intellectual Property Policy for Research Funding (the “IP Policy”); provided that the IP Policy is modified as follows:

• The definition of Net Income in the IP Policy is replaced in its entirety with the following language:
   
  “Net Income” means all Gross Income received related to commercialization of Intellectual Property resulting, in whole or in part, from an Award, less third-party, out-of-pocket expenses related directly to costs associated with application and registration required to establish ownership rights in or protection of the Intellectual Property. All other costs, including Unrecovered Indirect Costs and Internal Distributions, are not deductible when calculating Net Income. 
  
  
• Section V, Paragraph D of the IP Policy is replaced in its entirety with the following language: 
  
  Institution shall pay the American Heart Association annually a percentage of the Net Income derived from Intellectual Property conceived or reduced to practice in the performance or as a result of an Award, regardless of the amount of Net Income actually received, equal to Heart Association’s portion of support (expressed as a percentage) for the work or research giving rise to the Intellectual Property. In no event shall the application of the foregoing result in either the Association or Institution receiving less than 15% of Net Income. 
  
  
• A new Section V, Paragraph F is added to the IP Policy with the following language: 

Awardee shall provide the Association with an exclusive option to license any intellectual property rights and related know-how created or developed under the award (the “Exclusive Option”). If the Association decides, at its sole discretion, to exercise the Exclusive Option, the Association and Awardee will negotiate in good faith for a period of six months following the end of the Award the commercial terms of a license agreement. If the Association and Awardee cannot come to an agreement within the six month period, negotiations will cease, and the intellectual property rights will continue to be held exclusively by Grantee, subject to the IP Policy, as modified above.

Institutional Eligibility / Location of Work: Heart Association awards are limited to U.S.-based non-profit institutions, including medical, osteopathic and dental schools, veterinary schools, schools of public health, pharmacy schools, nursing schools, universities and colleges, public and voluntary hospitals and others that can demonstrate the ability to conduct the proposed research. Applications will not be accepted for work with funding to be administered through any federal institution or work to be performed by a federal employee, except for Veterans Administrations employees.

Use of Artificial Intelligence and/or Large Language Models:
The American Heart Association permits the use of a large language model (LLM – e.g. ChatGPT) or an artificial intelligence tool to generate and/or edit content in research proposals submitted for funding. This information must be disclosed at the time of submission. Disclosure of this information does not impact peer review. Should this information not be disclosed accurately, and use of these tools is identified, the proposal may be administratively withdrawn.

The American Heart Association DOES NOT permit the use of a large language model (LLM – e.g. ChatGPT) or an artificial intelligence tool to generate and/or edit content in peer review critiques. Uploading of any portion of a research proposal into a large language model (LLM – e.g. ChatGPT) or an artificial intelligence tool to assist in writing a critique of the proposal is explicitly prohibited as it is a violation of the Peer Reviewer Certification Statement (to include confidentiality, non-disclosure, and conflict of interest).

Open Data: Any factual data that is needed for independent verification of research results must be made freely and publicly available in an approved repository as soon as possible, and no later than the time of an associated publication or the end of the award period (and any no-cost extension), whichever comes first. For more information on the above policies, see the Association's Open Science Policy webpage.

Preregistration: The Association requires preregistration for any funded clinical trials and encourages preregistration for any studies that make an inferential claim from a sampled group or population, as well as studies that are reporting and testing hypotheses. After a project is completed, protocols and preregistration analysis plans can be used in conjunction with the final study and analysis by researchers seeking to replicate, reproduce, and build upon findings. See Heart Association preregistration information.

Other: The projects described can have no scientific or budgetary overlap with other funded work. The applicant/awardee and institution are responsible for compliance with all American Heart Association research award policies and guidelines for the duration of any awards they may receive. See Policies Governing All Research Awards.