The American Heart Association has set a challenging 10-year goal:
To improve the cardiovascular health of all Americans by 20 percent while reducing deaths from cardiovascular diseases and stroke by 20 percent, by the year 2020.
We will achieve our mission by:
- Providing knowledge-based solutions for people of all ages, at all levels of risk
- Leading efforts in research, prevention and treatment
- Serving global cardiovascular and stroke health needs as a partner of choice for researchers, systems, providers and consumers.
With our 2020 Impact Goal in mind, the American Heart Association research community will strive to ensure highly meritorious research and discovery continues. This includes our efforts to support early career investigators, to speed the discovery of new ways for people to maintain and improve their health, and to set a research agenda focused on maintaining the best possible health at all stages of life.
To reach these goals the research program has made the following vision a priority:
To reach these goals the research program has made the following vision a priority:
The American Heart Association will be the premier 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.
To support this vision, we have implemented several new award programs, including:
To support this vision, we have implemented several new award programs, including:
- Clinical Research Program - to help develop careers in patient-oriented cardiovascular and stroke research
- Summer fellowship - to provide a first research experience for undergraduate students
- Innovative Research Grant program (IRG) - supports innovative, high-risk, high-reward research that could lead to critical discoveries or advancements in cardiovascular diseases and stroke.
The American Heart Association 2010-2013 Research Strategic Plan supports our objective to “Accelerate Science Discovery.” AHA Research Committee members have developed five strategies to fulfill these goals and are bringing them to fruition.
- Provide funding and mentoring opportunities to support early career investigators’ development.
- Support multidisciplinary research approaches with collaborative communications among investigators and with other organizations to increase impact on ideal CV health and CVD- and stroke-related mortality.
- Provide funding opportunities for investigators to conduct high-risk, high impact projects that would advance ideal CV health and CVD and/or stroke-related research.
- Increase funding opportunities and better communicate AHA interest in supporting more clinical, population and translational research.
- Expand and develop programs to support the American Heart Association Global Strategy to collaborate with global partners to contribute to the reduction of CVD and stroke.
