WHAM Edge Awards 2025 to Fund Early-Career Researchers in Women's Health
The WHAM Edge Awards provide critical $25,000 grants to early-career researchers investigating how biological sex influences health outcomes, addressing systemic funding gaps and economic disparities in women's health research.
WHAM (Women's Health Access Matters) has announced the 2025 WHAM Edge Awards, an initiative providing unrestricted funding to early-career researchers exploring how biological sex influences health outcomes in autoimmune disease, brain health, cancer, and heart health. The program also welcomes proposals in emerging areas including healthspan, bone and muscle health, endometriosis, menopause, PCOS, and innovative methodologies such as AI and secondary data analysis.
Dr. Anula Jayasuriya, Chief Scientific Officer of WHAM, emphasized the critical timing of this intervention: "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 awards address systemic barriers where early-career researchers often cannot access grants requiring preliminary data they haven't had opportunity to collect.
Each awardee will receive $25,000 to pursue pre-clinical, clinical, or translational research, with recipients being notified on October 29, 2025, and a virtual presentation scheduled for November 18, 2025. Selection will be conducted by WHAM's Scientific Advisory Board comprising experts from leading institutions including Harvard Medical School, USC Greenville, UPMC, Yale, and Northwestern University. Nominees come through WHAM's partner organizations and the WHAM Research Collaborative, which includes over 100 scientists and physicians committed to advancing women's health research.
The economic implications of this funding are significant. WHAM's research demonstrates that investing $350 million in women's health research generates a $14 billion return to the U.S. economy. Carolee Lee, Founder & CEO of WHAM, stated: "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." The WHAM Investigator's Fund was created to catalyze private support for cutting-edge research, ensuring that women's health and the next generation of leaders have resources to thrive.