READI and Global Heart Hub Unite to advance equity in cardiovascular research

The 5^th Unite Annual Summit welcomed nearly 200 delegates from 37 countries to Dublin, Ireland, from 2–4 November 2025. This flagship event offers a vital platform for patients, healthcare professionals, researchers and advocates to share knowledge, foster collaboration and propel inclusive, patient-centred advances in cardiovascular health.

At this week’s Global Heart Hub Unite Annual Summit, the focus was firmly on women’s cardiovascular health, recognising that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among women worldwide. The summit highlighted that women’s symptoms are often misinterpreted or overlooked due to insufficient awareness of sex-specific disease presentation. Urgent global action is necessary to improve screening, diagnosis, and treatment pathways for women living with cardiovascular disease. In tandem, discussions emphasised equity and inclusion within cardiovascular research, spotlighting the pressing need to boost participation of women and other underrepresented groups in clinical trials. Participants also called for increased awareness among healthcare professionals regarding referral pathways and the importance of designing inclusive research.

Speakers across academia, clinical practice and patient advocacy emphasised that education, communication and trust are essential to bridging the gender gap in cardiovascular research. As one audience poll revealed, “sex and gender-specific research funding” ranked second only to “screening and early detection” as a top policy priority for improving women’s heart health.

The Global Heart Hub Clinical Research Initiative and Trials Portal and the IHI READI project were showcased as practical solutions helping to connect patients, healthcare professionals and researchers, making it easier to find, understand and access clinical studies. Panellists noted that outcomes from EU initiatives like READI are “critical in shaping equity-focused policies for cardiovascular disease.”

Professor Vijay Kunadian, of Newcastle University, added: “It is harder to recruit underrepresented patients into research – it requires more time and effort. If I have to speak with a female patient for two hours so that she will participate in a clinical trial, I am happy to put in that work.”

Renate Kaal-Poppelaars, a patient-advocate from the Netherlands shared: “I ask doctors and researchers what they learn about the differences in female heart health and the answer is ‘very little’ – often just one lecture during their training.”

Risa Mallory, a patient-advocate from Canada added: “We need more women in clinical research. Female investigators tend to enrol more women into trials – representation starts with who leads the research.”

Anita Sabidi, a patient from Indonesia said: “In my culture, women are invisible. Women with heart disease are often seen as a burden.”

“Communication and awareness remain the biggest barriers”, said Mitchell Silva, READI partner and CEO of Esperity. “People and physicians don’t think about trials if they don’t know they exist. We need to bring trials to patients and make information understandable and accessible.”

Olive Fenton, Senior Executive at Global Heart Hub added: “To achieve equity in cardiovascular research globally, we must ensure that every person — regardless of gender, geography, or background — has access to clear, trusted, and evidence-based information about research opportunities. Global Heart Hub, in partnership with our READI collaborators, is helping to make that vision a reality.”

Marta Bragagnolo, EU Projects Manager at Global Heart Hub shared: “Women remain significantly underrepresented in cardiovascular clinical trials despite their high burden of disease. Through our partnership with READI, Global Heart Hub is committed to actively increasing women’s participation in research, ensuring trials better reflect the populations they serve. By prioritising inclusion and sustained recruitment efforts, we aim to close the gender gap and improve heart health outcomes for women worldwide.”

These insights echo the shared goals of READI and Global Heart Hub, who aim to improve health literacy, enhance trust in research, and make clinical trial information accessible to all. Through collaboration with the Global Heart Hub and other partners, READI continues to champion the inclusion of every patient in the research that shapes their care.