By Kaylee Alivo

Anna Stanhewicz, assistant professor in the Department of Health and Human Physiology (HHP) within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, was featured in the November cover story of The Physiologist. The article, “How Pregnancy Affects a Lifetime of Health," highlights her research on how pregnancy complications can influence women’s long-term health and emphasizes the importance of studying women during the recovery period after pregnancy. 

In the article, Stanhewicz discusses how pregnancy complications, like gestational diabetes, can increase a woman’s likelihood of experiencing chronic diseases like heart disease or diabetes. 

“These complications put women on an accelerated trajectory for chronic diseases across the lifespan, and we’re really interested in trying to find why that is,” Stanhewicz said.

Her research focuses on studying blood vessel function during the critical period after pregnancy complications resolve but before chronic diseases develop, offering a window for potential intervention. A key finding from her lab also mentioned in the article, revealed that women with a history of gestational diabetes had blood vessels less responsive to insulin.

“We’re excited about this data because we think it might be showing that this is a mechanism that’s contributing to the accelerated risk,” she added. 

Stanhewicz says this research is important because women who experience complications such as high blood pressure or diabetes during pregnancy often recover after delivery but their risk for chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes remains higher across the lifespan. “Intervening during this recovery window provides an opportunity to prevent or delay disease progression rather than treating it after it has developed,” she said.

Her lab is now exploring pharmacological interventions aimed at improving blood vessel function in women with a history of gestational diabetes. By addressing the vascular dysfunctions that precede systemic issues, her work could pave the way for earlier screenings and proactive care models that prevent disease before it manifests. 

Stanhewicz’s passion for pregnancy-related vascular research was sparked by studies linking preeclampsia to cardiovascular disease risks and her background in studying microvascular function.

“I realized that my expertise could be applied to study women before chronic disease develops, offering a chance to make a meaningful impact,” she said. 

To learn more about Stanhewicz’s work, visit her lab website.