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Getting the latest healthcare news for you
Despite decades of progress in structural heart disease (SHD) research, women are nearly absent from the rooms where it's led. A new systematic review found women hold just 7% of trial committee seats, while men occupy over 56%. Experts warn this leadership gap narrows the science itself — leaving key questions about women's cardiovascular health unanswered.
Despite a surge in structural heart disease (SHD) research over the past two decades, women remain almost invisible in the leadership of those trials. A new systematic review and meta-analysis published in JACC: Advances analyzed 88 eligible interventional SHD trials and found that women held just 7% of steering committee seats, while men occupied more than 56%. Lead author Dr. Sahar Samimi noted that growth in the broader cardiovascular workforce simply hasn't translated into trial leadership gains.
The reasons are layered. Women make up only 3.9% of TAVR operators and 2.2% of mitral TEER operators in the US — a thin pipeline compounded by structural barriers like limited mentorship, gender bias, radiation concerns, and work-life challenges. Dr. Roxana Mehran, who authored an accompanying editorial, put it plainly: "When leadership is narrow, the science narrows with it."
Key Takeaways:
Why it matters: Who leads clinical trials shapes which questions get asked, which patients get enrolled, and how findings are applied. A more diverse trial leadership isn't just an equity issue — it's a scientific one.
