pic of study team

Italo Biaggioni, Cyndya Shibao, Meena Madhur and Luis Okamoto (from left) are studying the long-term effects of COVID-19 on the heart. 

A Vanderbilt University Medical Center research team has received a $1 million grant from the American Heart Association to study long COVID and its effects on the heart. 

Dr. Cyndya Shibao, an associate professor of medicine at VUMC, is leading the team. She said about 10percent of patients never recover completely after a COVID-19 diagnosis — meaning that more than six weeks after they’re diagnosed, they’re still experiencing severe symptoms. This is known as post-acute COVID-19 syndrome, or long COVID.