Fellow of the American Heart Association (FAHA)

To be eligible to apply for AHA Fellowship (FAHA):

1. Must be an active member at the Premium Professional or Premium Professional Plus level at the time the application is submitted.
2. Member dues must be up-to-date.
3. Must have been an AHA member at a paid membership tier for at least two years.

1. FAHA Areas of Excellence provide the areas against which your application will be evaluated. The Areas of Excellence document can be found in the FAHA Resources for Applications section.
2. CV template reflects what peer reviewers expect to find when reviewing your CV. If necessary, add missing information to a page or pages at the back of your CV to ensure all information can be found.
3. Factors taken into consideration when scoring a candidate’s application are the FAHA Areas of Excellence, candidate’s CV, and letter of recommendation.

Locate AHA Fellows by name or council in the Professional Volunteer Search Tool. To access the Volunteer Search Tool

1. Log into professional.heart.org with an active login.
2. Click the dropdown arrow next to your name in the upper right corner of the page. Click View Dashboard and choose Professional Volunteer Search.
3. Select Active FAHA Member and select FAHA. You can narrow down your search by selection with the Location, Ethnicity, Gender and Career stage. Click the Search button.
4. The next page will allow you to further narrow your search by Specialties, Job Classifications, Councils and more. For a FAHA proposer, using the Council option will likely yield the best results.

International applicants will be required to provide the same online application data as domestic applicants.

Letter of Recommendation

If the candidate does not have access to a FAHA who knows their work, their letter of recommendation may be authored by the Chair or Academic Chair of their institution or by an international scientific leader. The individual writing the letter of recommendation should be familiar with the candidate, their accomplishments and their work.

CV

A CV template is available to download that shows what information is expected on the CV submitted with the application. Candidates should supplement their current CV with any information listed on the CV Template that does not already appear on their CV. It is not necessary to rebuild one’s CV but simply add a pages or pages to the back of the CV to provide missing information. Failure to include all necessary elements in your CV could result in you not being elected as FAHA.

• AHA staff applying for FAHA status must meet the criteria with experience and service outside the scope of their position at the AHA. Any council and/or committee participation, support of AHA volunteer initiatives, AHA writing groups, etc., that fall within the staff applicant’s job at the AHA will not be considered during evaluation of FAHA applications.
• AHA staff must be a paid AHA member for 1 year prior to submitting a FAHA application.

Candidates may request a letter of recommendation from any active AHA Fellow or Emeritus Fellow (dues are up-to-date) who is well acquainted with the candidate's professional activities and volunteer involvement. To apply for AHA Fellowship please follow the procedures below:

1. From the All Council FAHA page, click on the link to the Council Awards System.
2. Sign in with your Professional Heart Daily username and password.
3. Follow the Instructions for ProposalCentral (found in the Resource section of this page) to set up you profile in ProposalCentral. Setting up your ProposalCentral profile will only need to be done the first time you login.
4. Once in the application, select the track from the Areas of Excellence document (can be found in the Resource section of this page) that you feel best describes your career path.
5. Once in the track application, be sure to select your council affiliation from the dropdown and complete your application.
6. Attach documentation as required.
   • An up-to-date curriculum vitae. (Check against the CV Template – found in Resource section of this page)
   • A letter of recommendation from your proposer. (Considerations for Letter of Recommendation – found in Resource section on this page) The letter must be written on business letterhead and be signed by the proposer; an electronic signature is acceptable.

Fellowship applications are peer reviewed during the spring and fall of each year. A slate containing the names of the newly elected FAHAs is presented to the Leadership Committee at its bi-annual meetings.

Newly elected Fellows will be recognized in the Connections Newsletter, via signage at the FAHA Lounge at Scientific Sessions, and at council dinners during Scientific Sessions. Newly elected FAHAs are strongly encouraged to attend these events.

1. No, applicants from all councils will be evaluated against the same criteria. The FAHA Areas of Excellence document, that can be found in the Resources section of the web page, shows the four available tracks as well as the areas of excellence each candidate will be evaluated on.

1. No. The qualities expected in a FAHA’s both domestic and international are the same. Domestic and international candidates are evaluated by the same areas of excellence. The only difference for international candidates is that they may not have access to a FAHA to provide their letter of recommendation. In this situation, their letter of recommendation may be authored by the Chair or Academic Chair of their institution. A second Letter of reference may be submitted by an International Scientific Leader. Only one letter is required but international candidates may submit two if they do not have a FAHA that can verify their accomplishments.

1. There is no fee to apply or maintain a FAHA status. However, those applying to become a FAHA must be at a Premium Professional membership tier at the time their application is submitted. If elected FAHA, members must remain at a Premium Professional tier to maintain their FAHA status.

1. If a FAHA’s membership tier drops below a Premium Professional tier or their membership expires, their FAHA status becomes inactive. Upon renewal or reinstatement at a Premium Professional membership tier their FAHA status will automatically be reinstated.

1. If you are a current FAHA and meet the qualifications to transition to an Emeritus status, yes, you will be transitioned into an Emeritus Fellow.

1. AHA staff that meet the qualifications may apply to become a FAHA. Please see the requirements for AHA Staff in Preparing your FAHA Application section.