Topic-focused Funded Research

The AHA and Allen Frontiers Group, along with additional contributors including the Oskar Fischer Project and Henrietta B. and Frederick H. Bugher Foundation, have committed more than $43 million to disrupt the incremental trajectory of brain health science and open new frontiers of discovery.

In March 2020, the Heart Association put out an unprecedented rapid response call for cardiovascular/cerebrovascular research proposals to address the growing crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of this issue's urgency, the focus was on innovative, highly impactful short-term proposals (9-12 months) that could show immediate progress.

In 2013, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded 14 Tobacco Centers of Regulatory Science (TCORS) to conduct research to inform the regulation of tobacco products.

In 2018, they funded nine new centers (TCORS 2.0), committing more than $151 million. The American Heart Association Tobacco Regulation and Addiction Center (A-TRAC) received new funding as part of this initiative and partnered with the other eight institutions to aid in the development and evaluation of tobacco product regulations. The goal of A-TRAC was to provide the FDA with scientific evidence regarding the cardiovascular toxicity and health effects of tobacco products, with a larger focus on new and emerging products.

The rapid pace of e-cigarette products entering the market without essential safety information requires an equally rapid, ambitious, comprehensive response on the part of the research/scientific community. The AHA committed $20 million to fund bold, ground-breaking research projects focused on the health impacts of nicotine and nicotine delivery products -- and to prevent and/or reverse the developing epidemic of nicotine addiction -- in children and youth.