The project is led by Heart Research Institute Professor Mary Kavurma, who is personally invested in helping develop better research on menopausal transition. “You’re as healthy as your blood vessels, and your blood vessel function declines during the menopausal period,” she told AAP. “The majority of the interventions have really been tailored to men, and not necessarily to women’s unique risk profiles and symptoms,” Prof Kavurma said. Women experience falling oestrogen levels during this time, hot flushes, night sweats, rising blood pressure and changes in fat distribution, which she said all related to blood vessel function. “This demands vigilant monitoring and timely intervention, so that we can alter the trajectory of future cardiovascular disease,” Prof Kavurma said.