Last update: February 2010

Scientific research related to cardiovascular disease and stroke is a critical component of the 2006-10 American Heart Association Strategic Plan.  To achieve the Knowledge Discovery goal of supporting highly meritorious research that promotes innovation with significant potential impact, including investment in basic and translational approaches, the 2006-10 Strategic Plan includes numerous strategies.  These are described below, along with accomplishments related to each.  With the AHA Strategic Plan as a starting point, the AHA research community has also developed and received board approval for a 2006-16 Research Strategic Plan based upon the following vision:

The American Heart Association will be the premiere cardiovascular and stroke influencing agent for developing and funding early career investigators, including high school and undergraduate students.  The association will endorse and support multidisciplinary and collaborative models; undertake high-risk, high-reward research; actively balance basic, clinical, population, and translational research; and expand its international scope.

Progress relative to the Research Strategic Plan is also described below.

AHA Strategic Plan Goal 1: Ensure continuation of highly meritorious research and discovery including support of early career investigators.

Strategy: Fund highly meritorious research.

• In FY 2008-09, 1,021 new affiliate and national program awards were activated, compared to 1,157  the prior year.

Strategy: Advocate for increased government funding of CVD and stroke related research.

• Every year, the association mounts "grassroots" campaigns to communicate the importance of federal funding for research at critical times in the federal budget development process.  Each spring, the association brings hundreds of scientists, patients, survivors and caregivers to meet with congressional representatives at its annual Lobby Day.
• In 2007, AHA staff worked with the advocacy community in Washington, D.C., to design a three-year campaign aimed at restoring NIH funding to 2003 levels (post doubling) in inflation adjusted terms. 

Strategy: Maintain and promote a comprehensive early investigator program.

• To avoid losing a generation of scientists, the AHA now awards over two-thirds of its research dollars to early career investigators.  In 2008-09 that amounted to $100.8 million -- more than 70 percent of the annual total.

*Programs target early career investigators

To support the Research Strategic Plan, in 2008 the AHA identified pilot models for offering undergraduate summer research opportunities with the aim of increasing interest in research careers. In 2010, the program will be offered by four affiliates: Founders, Great Rivers, Midwest and Western States.

AHA Strategic Plan Goal 2: Increase the capacity of the research community to generate the highest quality research.

Strategy: Increase collaboration within and across the research community.

• Since 2006, the American Heart Association has been a supporting member of the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP).  AAHRPP supporting members are a select group of professional, educational, or health-based organizations and businesses committed to the highest ethical principles and standards in protecting research participants and the advancement of research. Supporting members promote accreditation of human research protection programs and encourage those engaged in human research to seek accreditation.
• The AHA is a founding member of the Health Research Alliance (HRA), an association of about 40 voluntary health agencies and foundations funding health research.  The HRA fosters collaboration among not-for-profit, non-governmental funders to support the continuum of health research and training from biomedical science to applications that advance health, by improving communication and collaboration.
• The American Heart Association offers private foundations as well as corporations the opportunity to support association-approved awardees.  In 2006, the AHA Pharmaceutical Roundtable (PRT) provided over $8 million to support 13 research awards to train scientists to conduct high-level prevention, quality of care and outcomes research.
• In 2007, with the support of an $8.4 million commitment from The Henrietta B. and Frederick H. Bugher Foundation, a network of three centers for stroke prevention research was developed.  It is anticipated that the American Stroke Association-Bugher Foundation Centers for Stroke Prevention Research will discover new knowledge on stroke prevention and produce a cadre of new investigators who will energize this field, as well as providing insights into the challenges and successful mechanisms for scientific collaboration.
• In 2008, the American Heart Association and its Pharmaceutical Roundtable awarded grants totaling $14.5 million for the Outcomes Research Centers initiative.  The project will provide a network for cardiovascular and stroke research focusing on the end results, or outcomes, of healthcare for people with or at risk for heart disease and stroke.   The initiative is supported in part by a generous gift from American Heart Association national board member David Spina and his wife, Stevie Spina. Over the next four years, these four centers will conduct research to determine what interventions, environments, patient factors and other issue that most influence improvements in healthcare outcomes for heart disease and stroke patients.
• In 2009, with support from the Jon Holden DeHaan Foundation, research centers focused on cardiac myogenesis research were awarded.  The centers will conduct research that focuses on understanding the fundamental mechanisms underlying development and specification of cardiac myocytes and the application of insights gained from these studies to the benefit of patients with cardiac injury.
• Other research funding partnerships have also been forged with organizations that share a common interest in cardiovascular disease and stroke.  These partnerships fund fellowships in resuscitation (Philips Medical Systems), emergency medicine (Emergency Medicine Foundation/Society for Academic Emergency Medicine), and stroke research (American Academy of Neurology Foundation).  Other partnerships support grants in cardiac aging (Association of Specialty Professors), pediatric cardiomyopathy (Children's Cardiomyopathy Foundation) and the relationship between Friedreich's Ataxia and heart disease (Friedreich's Ataxia Research Alliance). 

Strategy: Encourage changes in statutory and regulatory environment that support ongoing discovery.

• In 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) gave millions of heart disease and stroke patients a renewed sense of hope with an infusion of resources for lifesaving medical research through research programs of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  Working with its medical research and patient advocacy partners, the AHA was instrumental in securing these resources for the NIH.

AHA Strategic Plan Goal 3: Promote a research infrastructure that expedites the translation of basic, clinical, behavioral and population research into practice.

Strategy: Fill gaps in existing knowledge base; address research issues related to cost, quality, and access.

• As a part of the Research Strategic Plan, several new funding mechanisms were introduced in 2008, including the Clinical Research Program aimed at increasing the association's contribution to clinical training and research.  This program will increase opportunities for clinicians to benefit from AHA funds and increase the AHA's involvement in clinical and population research.  For 2009 and 2010, the program was offered by seven affiliates and the National Research Program.
• In 2007-08, an examination of the AHA's peer review structure relative to review of clinical application was begun, leading to the formation of "clinically-enriched" committees in 2008-09.  These are designed to ensure that clinical applications are reviewed by scientists with expertise in clinical research. The clinically-enriched concept will be more fully implemented in 2009-10.
• In 2009-2010 and 2010-11, the AHA Research Program is piloting a Unified Peer Review process in an effort to maximize the match of volunteer expertise with the science of each application and to minimize administrative costs.  Seven affiliates and the National Research Program will participate in the pilot for the spring 2010 review cycle.
• Another focus of the Research Strategic Plan is to ensure that the AHA Research Program encourages multidisciplinary and collaborative research through the current research portfolio.  The following policy changes have been made to aid in creating collaborative relationships:
  - A portion of the principal investigator's salary on all grant programs may be shared with collaborators or other faculty/staff members on the project
  - Travel allowances have been increased to make it easier for investigators to work with collaborators at institutions other than their own.

Strategy: Accelerate discovery and innovation.

• In January 2009, 14 investigators began work on projects funded through the AHA's new Innovative Research Grant (IRG), whose purpose is to fund paradigm-shifting cardiovascular disease and stroke research. The goal of these two-year awards is to support highly innovative, high-risk, high-reward research that could ultimately lead to critical discoveries or major advancements that will accelerate the field of cardiovascular and stroke research.  The AHA's Strategic Initiatives Fund provided seed funding for the rapid launch of the Innovative Research Grant program.  The IRG is being offered for a second time in 2009-10.
• Based on the understanding that important scientific discoveries can happen anywhere in the world, the AHA's Research Strategic Plan aims to increase the program's international scope.  Strategy development for enhancing AHA's research presence outside the U.S. will begin in concert with the timetable for the AHA's global strategy.