WHAM Announces 2025 Edge Awards to Fund Early-Career Women's Health Researchers

WHAM (Women's Health Access Matters) has announced the 2025 WHAM Edge Awards, an initiative providing critical research grants to early-career investigators studying how biological sex influences health outcomes. The awards target four key health areas that disproportionately or differently affect women: autoimmune disease, brain health, cancer, and heart health.

According to Dr. Anula Jayasuriya, Chief Scientific Officer of WHAM and Chair of the WHAM Scientific Advisory Board, "Too many promising research ideas go unfunded simply because they are too early-stage for traditional grantmaking. At WHAM, we believe that early investment in bold ideas—and in the brilliant minds behind them—is how we drive progress in women's health." The WHAM Edge Awards were created to fill this critical funding gap, as early-career researchers often face barriers accessing grants that require preliminary data they haven't yet collected.

Each awardee will receive $25,000 in unrestricted funding to pursue pre-clinical, clinical, or translational research. The 2025 program also welcomes proposals in emerging areas of high interest, including healthspan, bone and muscle health, novel approaches to women's health conditions such as endometriosis, menopause, and PCOS, and innovative methodologies including AI and secondary data analysis. Nominees are selected through the WHAM Research Collaborative, a group of over 100 scientists, physicians, and institutional leaders committed to advancing women's health research.

The significance of this initiative lies in addressing the historical underfunding and understudying of women's health issues. Carolee Lee, Founder & CEO of WHAM, emphasized that "Women are greatly understudied and often disproportionately affected by diseases, including lung cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer's. By accelerating research into sex and biological differences, we can not only improve outcomes but also reduce healthcare costs and boost the economy." WHAM's research has demonstrated that investing $350 million in women's health research generates a $14 billion return to the U.S. economy, making it both an urgent health priority and a smart economic investment.

Recipients will be notified on October 29, 2025, with a virtual WHAM Forum and presentation of the Edge Awards scheduled for November 18, 2025. The selection committee includes prominent researchers from Harvard Medical School, USC Greenville, UPMC, Yale, and Northwestern University. This private investment initiative through the WHAM Investigator's Fund aims to catalyze support for cutting-edge research and ensure that women's health—and the next generation of leaders shaping it—has the resources to thrive, ultimately transforming health outcomes and strengthening the economy for everyone.