Women in Clinical Trials: CVCT Research Scholar Awards

We are delighted to announce the return of the CVCT Research Scholar Awards for 2025, in partnership with Global CVCT Forum and sponsored by Pfizer. With this renewed commitment, the awards once again spotlight and support outstanding women in clinical trials, advancing women’s representation in clinical research across cardiology and beyond.

A Renewed Commitment to Women in Clinical Trials

At Women As One, our mission is to elevate the presence, voice, and leadership of women physicians in cardiovascular medicine. One of the critical barriers to gender equity is the underrepresentation of women in clinical trial leadership roles, and by extension, the underrepresentation of diverse patient populations in those trials. Research shows that women occupy only about 10% of leadership positions on cardiovascular clinical trial committees.

With the CVCT Research Scholar Awards, we are actively building pathways for women to lead and shape clinical research practice. The 2025 awards mark another milestone in our partnership with the Global CVCT Forum and now with Pfizer as the key sponsor.

What The 2025 Awards Offer

The CVCT Research Scholar Awards program identifies and supports women physicians engaged in, or aspiring to engage in, clinical trial leadership. Each awardee is invited to attend the Global CVCT Forum and participate in faculty-level engagement and networking sessions, as well as a dedicated leadership lunch with senior trialists, academics, and industry leaders.

These opportunities are designed to accelerate career growth, enhance visibility, and expand professional networks for women advancing clinical science.

By nurturing women in clinical trials, the program supports not just individual careers but also the broader objective of more inclusive research: greater diversity in leadership helps drive diversity in participant recruitment, improve trial design, and strengthen the relevance of outcomes.

“Congratulations to this year’s CVCT Research Scholar Award winners! Each of these remarkable women demonstrates dedication to advancing cardiovascular research and improving patient care. We celebrate their achievements and commitment to paving the way for greater inclusion and leadership opportunities for women in clinical trials. We are grateful to our partners, the Global CVCT Forum and Pfizer, for their collaboration. Together, we are helping to build a future where women physicians are fully represented and empowered in every aspect of clinical research.”

Malissa J. Wood, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Women As One

Announcing the 2025 CVCT Research Scholar Award Winners

Women As One is pleased to announce the three outstanding recipients of the 2025 CVCT Research Scholar Awards. Each of these accomplished women exemplifies leadership, innovation, and a commitment to advancing clinical trial excellence and equity in cardiovascular research.

Jessie Holtzman, MD, University of California, San Francisco, USA

Dr. Jessie Holtzman is a Cardiovascular Disease Chief Fellow at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Holtzman earned a BA with honors in Human Biology from Stanford University and an MD from Harvard Medical School. She plans to pursue a career as a non-invasive, preventative cardiologist and physician-investigator, with an emphasis on cardiometabolic health, women’s cardiovascular outcomes, and medical device regulation, leveraging digital health and remote data capture to enable pragmatic, scalable studies. By generating high-quality, clinically relevant evidence, Dr. Holtzman hopes to translate science into action through evidence-based cardiometabolic recommendations, regulatory guidance, and advocacy.

Iulia Iatan, MD, PhD, MUHC, Royal Victoria Hospital, Canada

Dr. Iulia Iatan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at McGill University and a Clinician-Scientist at the McGill University Health Centre Research Institute. Her clinical and research focus is on cardiometabolic and vascular prevention, inherited lipid disorders, and women’s cardiovascular health. She completed her residency in General Internal Medicine at McGill University, after earning her MD from Université Laval in Quebec City, and a PhD from McGill University on the genetic regulation of cholesterol metabolism in cardiovascular disease. She also pursued advanced training through the Program in Clinical Effectiveness at Harvard University and a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, Clinical Lipidology, and Vascular Health at the University of British Columbia’s Centre for Heart Lung Innovation.

Dr. Iatan is the recipient of several distinctions, including the Junior Investigator Award for Women from the American Heart Association, the National Lipid Association Scholarship, and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society Best Clinical Science Award. She has presented at numerous international conferences, including a Late-Breaking Clinical Trial at the American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions, and has authored several peer-reviewed papers, demonstrating her commitment to advancing cardiovascular health.

Maggie Infeld, MD, MS, Tufts University, USA

Maggie Infeld, MD, MS, is an interventional cardiac electrophysiologist and physician–scientist focused on advancing physiologic pacing as a precision therapy for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and atrial fibrillation (AF). She directs the Physiologic Pacing Program and co-directs the Cardiac Arrhythmia Center at Tufts Medical Center. Her research reframes heart rate as a programmable therapeutic lever delivered through physiologic pacing. As co-PI of the blinded myPACE randomized trial, she showed that individualized rate modulation improves symptoms, activity, AF burden, and congestion biomarkers in HFpEF. She also developed an electrically guided Bachmann bundle pacing technique and is leading the first randomized pilot trial of atrial resynchronization using objective electrical endpoints.

These three scholars represent the next generation of women driving meaningful change in clinical research. Their work demonstrates the transformative impact of representation in leadership and underscores the importance of advancing women in clinical trials.

Why This Matters

Advancing women in clinical trials is central to equity, innovation, and improved patient outcomes. Historically, women cardiologists have faced structural barriers, fewer leadership opportunities, limited access to mentorship, and fewer chances to serve on steering committees or as principal investigators.

By investing in women trialists, the CVCT Research Scholar Awards help to:

Strengthen the pipeline of women-led clinical research
Ensure trial leadership better reflects practitioner and patient populations
Enhance recruitment and retention of underrepresented patient groups
Create visible role models and mentors for future generations of women in clinical trials

Through our continued collaboration with the Global CVCT Forum and our valued industry partners, Women As One is helping to build sustainable frameworks for equity in research leadership.

“As a long-standing partner of Women As One, we are honored to support the CVCT Research Scholar Awards and to recognize these exceptional women physicians. Their leadership strengthens the clinical trial ecosystem and helps ensure that research reflects the diverse populations it serves. We are proud to work alongside Women As One to expand opportunities for women in clinical trials and to help cultivate the next generation of trailblazers in cardiovascular research.”

Faiez Zannad, MD, CVCT Founder and Chair

Continuing The Movement

The CVCT Research Scholar Awards exemplify Women As One’s ongoing commitment to advancing women in clinical trials and ensuring that leadership in cardiovascular research better reflects the diversity of our global community. Together, we are shaping a future where women in clinical trials lead innovation, inclusivity, and excellence in cardiovascular medicine.

To learn more about the awards, previous recipients, and upcoming opportunities, visit our Awards page.

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