Collaborations and Conclusions

End of Network Report Obesity

Strategically Focused Research Network

Above all, the Obesity SFRN was an alliance of scientists partnering to share data, methods and models to push research forward.

These four centers had a brilliant synergy among the different projects, said Dr. Annabelle Volgman, who chaired the Obesity Strategically Focused Research Network Oversight Advisory Committee.

Dr. W. Timothy Garvey, Center Director at University of Alabama at Birmingham, said he was pleased by some key information-sharing efforts between UAB, Vanderbilt and Johns Hopkins, as well as between UAB scientists working on the center's basic, clinical and population projects.

Data was constantly flowing among all of these projects, Garvey said.

The joint efforts across the Obesity SFRN had a profound impact on Samantha Martin, a fellow at UAB.

I loved seeing how well and effortlessly people worked together. I've never seen anything like it, she said.

Other fellows and postdocs I've talked to outside the SFRN tell me they haven't been as fortunate as I was as far as collaboration. But my takeaway from this SFRN is that teamwork is really important. I want to model my own research program based on what I experienced with the AHA.

Not only was there a lot of collaboration among the scientists within individual universities, but they helped each other out across the universities. It's hard, sometimes, but collaboration is the best way to advance knowledge in any disease.

Conclusion

But the Obesity SFRN came with an enormous challenge: the Covid-19 pandemic, which struck partway through the program.

All of the Obesity scientists did a remarkable job of quickly pivoting and transitioning to a virtual world when needed. They really rose to the challenge, said Dr. Annabelle Volgman, the Oversight Advisory Committee Chairperson.

Illustration Obesity Strategically Focused Research Network

We are so grateful to the American Heart Association for thinking up this innovative SFRN model, Volgman said. Thanks to the AHA, we now have a better understanding of obesity and how it contributes to cardiovascular disease.

Since the first SFRN launched in 2014, the AHA has created 14 strategically focused research networks, including ones on Prevention, Hypertension, Disparities in CVD & Stroke, and Go Red For Women.

In addition to Obesity, other networks have focused on Heart Failure, Children, Vascular Disease, Atrial Fibrillation, Arrhythmias & Sudden Cardiac Death, Cardiometabolic Health & Type 2 Diabetes, Health Technologies & Innovation, Disparities in Cardio-Oncology, and the Science of Diversity in Clinical Trials.

All of AHA's strategically focused research networks share common goals, such as training new investigators, producing new research and identifying programs and policies to reduce cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease.