The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute is hosting the virtual workshop “Blood Pressure Across Women’s Life Span” on December 10–11, 2025.

This workshop is organized in collaboration with the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health.

Workshop Co-Chairs: Jane F. Reckelhoff, Ph.D. (Professor and Past Chair of the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, and Founding Director of the Women’s Health Research Center at the University of Mississippi Medical Center) and Natalie Bello, M.D., M.P.H. (Director of Women’s Cardiovascular Health & Cardiology Atria Institute, Director of Hypertension Research and Associate Professor of Cardiology, Smidt Heart Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center)

Background:

As cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of death in women, there is an urgent need to address knowledge gaps in understanding the unique factors that increase the CVD risk in women, with an ultimate goal to develop female-specific prevention, intervention, and implementation strategies to halt and even reverse this negative trend. Hypertension is one of the most important modifiable risk factors for the development and progression of CVD, more so in women than men. Women generally have lower blood pressure (BP) than age-matched men before midlife but exhibit a steeper increase in BP throughout life. However, evidence regarding optimal BP in women is lacking, and recent epidemiological data suggest that the incidence of CVD (e.g., myocardial infarction, heart failure, and stroke) proportionately increases beginning at a lower range of BP in women compared with men. Additionally, the link between high BP and some female-specific conditions, such as endometriosis, or conditions that are more prevalent in women, such as autoimmune disorders is described, but the exact underlying mechanisms still need to be fully elucidated. Thus, more research is warranted, from basic science studies to clinical and epidemiological investigations, to better understand these sex-specific differences and improve prevention.

Goals and Objectives:

• Review current BP diagnostic and clinical care guidelines across women’s life span.
• Identify gaps in basic science, clinical, and epidemiological knowledge related to BP in females during preconception, pregnancy, postpartum, and perimenopause
• Discuss barriers and facilitators to implementing new guidelines for BP control in pregnancy
• Identify research opportunities across the translational science spectrum to establish a normal range of BP in women and sex-specific prevention, intervention, and implementation strategies for optimizing BP levels across women’s lifespan, aiming to reduce health disparities and CVD risk in women

Event Details:

Date: December 10–11, 2025

Virtual Workshop: Virtual Workshop: A link to join the virtual workshop will be sent following registration. Registration for the workshop is free and required to attend.

Contact:

For questions or to request reasonable accommodations to participate in this event, please email Julia D’Albora at jdalbora@seiservices.com.