Strategic Networks Annual Meeting 2025

The meeting will be held at the Omni Las Colinas Hotel
221 East Las Colinas Boulevard
Dallas (Irving), Texas 75039

ALL ATTENDEES (awardees, fellows/trainees and OAC) MUST REGISTER for the Strategic Network Annual meeting BY AUGUST 1, 2025.

All key Center personnel (Directors/Coordinating Center PIs, Training Directors, Project PIs and Fellows/Trainees) and Oversight Advisory Committee members are expected to attend.

Refer to Programming for specific details.

REGISTER HERE FOR SEPTEMBER 8-9:

• Clinical Trials SFRN
• Chronic Stress SFRN
• Inflammation in Cardiac & Neurovascular Disease SFRN
• Cardiovascular Kidney Metabolic Syndrome SFRN

REGISTER HERE FOR SEPTEMBER 9-10:

• HERN Prevention of Hypertension
• HERN Maternal & Infant Health
• HERN Rural Health
• HERN Community-Driven Research Approaches

IMPORTANT NOTE: Meeting registration is separate from booking your hotel reservation. It is important that hotel reservations are booked within the Strategic Network room block and not directly through the hotel’s booking link or a third-party site.  Refer to Travel/Hotel Reservations for further instructions on how to make hotel reservations.  Name tags will be created based on the name and credentials entered on the registration form, please ensure this is entered correctly.

All meeting attendees are responsible for booking their own travel and hotel and are expected to attend the duration of the meeting. It is important that hotel reservations are booked within the Strategic Network room block using the link above and not directly through the hotel’s booking link or a third-party site.

For Strategic Network meetings September 8-9,

• Prevention of Hypertension, Maternal & Infant Health, Rural Health and Community-Driven Research Approaches HERN

Airports
Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) ~ 11 miles 
Dallas Love Field Airport (DAL) ~ 9 miles

Hotel Reservation
Use this link to make hotel reservations by 8/1/2025: 
Omni Las Colinas Hotel | AHA Strategic Networks Annual Meeting (omnihotels.com)

Deposit:  One-night deposit is due at the time of booking.
Cancellation Policy:  Cancel 72 hours prior to arrival to avoid forfeiting one-night deposit.

Hotel Information
Omni Las Colinas Hotel 
221 East Las Colinas Boulevard
Irving, Texas 75039
(972) 556-0800

The attire for the Strategic Network Annual Meeting is business casual. Jeans, slacks, khakis, polo shirts, other casual blouses and shirts are appropriate.  Hotel meetings rooms are often cool, so bring a jacket or sweater.

Each meeting room will have a charging station. Space will be limited; it is recommended that laptops be charged nightly.

Submit ALL presentations to AHA at [email protected]
by Thursday, September 4.

If any of the presentations include embedded videos or include a link that would require internet access, please notify AHA as soon as possible. The designated AV tech will need this in advance to ensure there are no issues the day of the meeting.

It will be expected that ALL Strategic Network awardees present a clear and concise presentation that focuses on the overall progress of their center and project including any roadblocks/challenges and strategies to improve the overall center’s progress. It is recommended to spend time presenting on the PROGRESS on each of the aims/goals based on the project’s research plan, NOT re-presenting proposed aims.

To prepare for the upcoming annual meeting, ALL awardees and fellows/trainees are expected to prepare their presentations in advance and receive feedback to ensure their presentations meet the AHA and OAC’s expectations. The OAC would like to hear from the Directors/Coordinating Center PIs, Training Directors, Project PIs and Fellows/Trainees.

SFRN Update Presentations
Each update should be limited to 5-7 minutes, focusing specifically on overall progress. Combined center updates including the center/training component and research projects should be presented within 28-30 minutes.  Each SFRN center’s presentation should be combined to one master slide deck.

HERN Update Presentations
The coordinating center and each project will be limited to 10-12 minutes, focusing specifically on overall progress.

Helpful Hints - Updates to the OACs should include:

• overall progress on the center/training program as well as specific progress on each project including roadblocks/challenges and strategies that have been implemented to improve progress.
• update on the progress of the collection/analysis of retrospective data AND/OR recruitment efforts including any strategies to improve recruitment efforts for projects that are actively
• enrolling participants, if applicable.
• update on the training and research efforts of fellows/trainees, if applicable.
• update on partnership requirement and how the partnering institution has been involved in a substantive manner (i.e., non-research-intensive institution, institution focused on educating/training or serving under-represented individuals in science, OR non-profit institution that primarily provide services to historically under-served populations), if applicable.

Tools & Resources for Preparing Presentations

The webinar hosted by “The Ragin Group” and project status templates are great resources for preparing a clear and concise project update presentation for the upcoming annual meeting. As a reminder, project updates will be condensed to allow more time for collaborative breakouts and networking opportunities. Refer to these resources below:

• Preparing Project Updates (video)
  
• Receiving Feedback (video)
  
• Project Status Worksheet
  
• AHA Expectations and Guidelines (PPT)

AHA will offer an open Q&A session to all network awardees and fellows/trainees to give another opportunity for questions in preparation for the upcoming annual meeting this fall.

Key Deadlines:

Poster & Presentation Titles: Friday, August 1
Final Presentations Due to AHA: Thursday, September 4

• Strategic Network Fellow/Trainee Presentation Session:  Moderated and opportunity to hear the innovation and outcomes from the postdoctoral fellows and trainees.

• Oral Presentations:  Each presenter should prepare a presentation NOT to exceed 7-8 minutes on their research project/topic.  It will be important that each presenter does not go over their allocated time to ensure the session remains on time. Please send AHA the final slide deck by the deadline and bring a copy on a jump drive and provide it to AHA at check-in.

• Networking and Poster Session:  Opportunity to network with other Strategic Networks and visit with poster and demo station presenters.
  
  
  • Poster Presentations: Please see the guidelines for preparing your poster presentation (PDF). On-site printing for meetings is not available. Poster presenters will be able to set up posters during the breaks prior to the reception or check-in with AHA staff on-site on September 24.
  • AHA will have a designated poster number for each poster presenter and will support set-up to ensure posters are posted to the correctly assigned board.

Click the following link to download the logo as pdf:  AHA Funded Research Logo.pdf

If you prefer a jpg, copy the image below: