Media contact: Savannah Koplon
Bertha Hidalgo, Ph.D.Bertha Hidalgo, Ph.D., associate professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, has received a grant of more than $300,000 from Research Goes Red, an initiative by the American Heart Association Institute for Precision Cardiovascular Medicine.
The two-year grant is aimed at increasing education and awareness in women about cardiovascular disease and stroke.
This grant provides an opportunity to leverage knowledge and resources and enhance the messaging about these health issues, through a public-facing awareness campaign aimed at millennial and underrepresented women to target cardiovascular disease prevention early on.
“Millennial women should care about cardiovascular health, and developing healthy lifestyles early on can make a big difference,” Hidalgo said. “We are interested in understanding what information women will be most receptive to in order to change behaviors. The end goal is helping women become more heart-aware and heart-healthy.”
The project will utilize social media power to cast a wide net in the hopes of reaching women of all age groups, making the impact greater and better. The goal is to provide evidence-based information about the types of messages that resonate best with women and encourage them to change behaviors by engaging social networks and influencers.