Obesity Narrative Report

End of Network Report Obesity

Strategically Focused Research Network
Hypertension Illustration

For nearly 100 years, the American Heart Association has been dedicated to fighting cardiovascular disease, the No. 1 killer worldwide.

At the center of its mission is research. Since 1949, the organization has invested more than $5 billion to spur scientific innovations that help people live longer, healthier lives. As science evolves, the AHA’s research has grown and evolved to keep pace.

As obesity rates continue to worsen in the U.S. and around the world, the AHA committed $15 million to establish the Obesity SFRN. The network gave researchers the critical opportunity to explore complex questions about obesity and its relationship to cardiovascular health The AHA awarded $3.7 million to each of four Centers beginning in 2017:

  • Johns Hopkins University, to study the role of time-restricted feeding on obesity and cardiometabolic health.
  • New York University Medical Center, to examine the translational and therapeutic opportunities of braking inflammation in obesity and metabolic dysfunction.
  • The University of Alabama at Birmingham, to investigate how women with obesity, metabolic syndrome and gestational diabetes may influence their children' weight and health long after birth.
  • Vanderbilt University Medical Center, to develop precision medicine approaches to treating obesity while reducing cardiovascular disease risk.

Each center was required to include a basic science, clinical science and population science research component. Each center also designed a two-year research postdoctoral training program for three fellows, who built relationships with faculty across multiple disciplines within their own institution and throughout the research network.Obesity SFRN Awardees and Oversight Advisory Committee

These four centers were amazingly enthusiastic and collaborative as we set out to better understand obesity and its relationship with cardiovascular disease. Working together, they helped advance the knowledge so we can find better treatments and improve people's health, said Oversight Advisory Committee Chairperson Annabelle Volgman, M.D., FACC, FAHA.

More than one-third of Americans have obesity, so this is a big problem we're tackling, and we asked a lot of big questions, she said.

Our centers explored everything from genetic predispositions to maternal transmission of obesity to their offspring. As a result of all their hard work, I think we could eventually see new drugs and innovative new therapies that will help decrease obesity in patients. Indeed, we are extremely pleased that this SFRN initiated 10 additional clinical trials that will continue to produce translatable outcomes related to obesity. This is exactly the type of impact envisioned when the SFRN model was put in place.


In 2014, the AHA established the Strategically Focused Research Networks (SFRN), a unique venture that brings together scientists from multiple institutions to study a common topic from different perspectives. Collaboration across disciplines helps create new ideas, approaches and knowledge. The AHA Board of Directors chooses the topic of each SFRN.