AHA Research Grant Funding Opportunities
The American Heart Association is the largest non-profit, non-governmental funder of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular research in the U.S. Many research programs are offered annually and others are one-time grants. Some programs require pre-proposals, with full proposals by invitation only. Watch this page for updates on funding opportunities and proposal deadlines.
Review the Characteristics of All Research Awards to be sure you are familiar with AHA policies and restrictions. These can be found on the Application Resources page.
Investigator-Initiated Research
For these funding opportunities, applicants initiate the research focus. Qualification for these awards is largely based on the principal investigator’s career stage.
Topic-focused Funding
These programs support specific areas of science deemed critical to achieving our mission and strategic objectives. The AHA co-funds some projects with other organizations to advance common goals.
Data Science Grants
These opportunities fund researchers from anywhere in the world working in the field of data science. Grants support investigators in all career stages, from trainees to senior scientists.
AHA Registry Research
AHA/ASA Quality Programs produce data from millions of patient records in vast databases for advancing scientific research. Investigators can submit proposals to conduct research using this data.
Investigator-initiated Research Opportunities
| Program* | Pre-proposal Deadline | Proposal Deadline** | Award Start Date |
| AHA's Second Century Early Faculty Independence Award For investigators in the early years of their first professional appointment to address technology-driven health care and diagnostics, including artificial intelligence/machine learning approaches, telemedicine, biosensors, and wearables; novel and emerging therapeutics, including genome editing therapies, regenerative therapies, and bioengineered foods; environmental impacts on health, including direct and indirect effects; or research and solutions for issues affecting aging populations and the shrinking healthcare workforce. |
Tuesday, April 4, 2023 |
Monday, May 22, 2023 |
July 1, 2023 |
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AHA's Second Century Clinical Fellow Research Education Program
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Thursday, April 13, 2023 |
July 1, 2023 |
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Proposal Deadlines for the following programs have been announced. The RFPs will be updated for 2024 by May 1, 2023. |
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| AHA Predoctoral Fellowship Enhances the training of promising students in pre-doctoral or clinical health professional degree training programs and who intend careers as scientists, physician-scientists or other clinician-scientists, or related careers aimed at improving global health and wellbeing. |
Wed., Sept. 6, 2023 |
Jan. 1, 2024 | |
| AHA Postdoctoral Fellowship Enhances the training of postdoctoral applicants who are not yet independent. The applicant must be embedded in an appropriate investigative group with the mentorship, support, and relevant scientific guidance of a research mentor. |
Thurs, Sept. 7, 2023 |
Jan 1, 2024 | |
| Institutional Award for Undergraduate Student Training This award is made to qualified institutions that can offer a meaningful research experience that supports the AHA mission that encourages undergraduate college students from all disciplines to consider research careers. |
Wed., Sept 13, 2023 |
Jan 1, 2024 | |
| AHA Institutional Research Enhancement Award (AIREA) Stimulates research at educational institutions that provide baccalaureate or advanced degrees related to scientific research training. Eligible institutions may not have been major recipients of NIH support. Awards provide funding for small-scale research projects related to cardiovascular diseases and brain health, enhancing the research environment at eligible institutions, and exposing students to research opportunities. |
Thurs., Sept. 14, 2023 |
Jan 1, 2024 | |
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Career Development Award
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Wed,. Dec. 6, 2023 |
April 1, 2024 | |
| The AHA anticipates offering the following programs for 2024 funding. Please watch this page for updates or sign up to receive our monthly newsletter. | |||
| Collaborative Sciences Award Fosters innovative collaborative approaches to research projects that propose novel pairings of investigators from at least two broadly disparate disciplines. The proposal must focus on the collaborative relationship, such that the scientific objectives could not be achieved without the efforts of at least two co-principal investigators and their respective disciplines. |
TBA | ||
| Established Investigator Award Supports established investigators in rapid career growth phase, with records of accomplishments and showing extraordinary promise. Candidates will have a demonstrated commitment to cardiovascular or cerebrovascular science disciplines that support the AHA’s mission, as indicated by funding and publication history and scientific accomplishments. Candidates should propose an innovative/novel research direction that challenges existing paradigms and employs novel concepts, approaches, or technologies. |
TBA |
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| Innovative Project Award Supports highly innovative, high-impact research that could ultimately lead to critical discoveries or major advancements that will accelerate the field of cardiovascular and/or cerebrovascular research. The idea proposed here should not have been submitted in whole or in part in a previous proposal for AHA support. |
TBA | ||
| Merit Award Funds investigators with stellar track records of accomplishment, demonstrated by federal or equivalent funding from multiple sources and excellent publication records with substantial impact, who have the potential to move a field of science forward with creative approaches that are aligned with the AHA's mission. |
TBA |
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| Research Supplement to Promote Diversity in Science Under the mentorship of current AHA awardees, this mechanism supports research experiences for predoctoral and postdoctoral fellows from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups in science. |
TBA | ||
| Transformational Project Award Supports highly innovative, high-impact projects that build on work in progress that could ultimately lead to critical discoveries or major advancements that will accelerate the field of cardiovascular and/or cerebrovascular research. Research deemed innovative may be built around an emerging paradigm, approaching an existing problem from a new perspective, or exhibit other uniquely creative qualities. |
TBA | ||
Topic-focused Funding Opportunities
| Program* | Pre-proposal Deadline | Proposal Deadline** | Award Start Date | |
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Health Equity Research Network (HERN) on Improving Access to Care and other Health Inequities in Rural America |
- closed - | Tuesday, April 4, 2023 |
July 1, 2023 | |
| AHA/CHF Congenital Heart Defect Research Awards A multi-year commitment between the American Heart Association (AHA) and Children’s Heart Foundation (CHF) to jointly support investigators actively conducting basic, clinical, population, or translational congenital heart defects research. |
TBA | |||
| AHA/Enduring Hearts Research Through these awards, Enduring Hearts and AHA provide funding for research on improving the life expectancy and quality of life of pediatric heart transplant recipients. |
TBA | |||
| AHA/ASA/ABF Lawrence M Brass, MD Stroke Research Awards The American Heart Association and American Brain Foundation vide funding for postdoctoral trainees embarking on careers in clinical neurology, stroke and neurocritical care. Award recipients receive supportive mentorship and conduct introductory pilot studies that will guide future strategies for reducing cardiovascular and/or cerebrovascular disease. |
TBA | |||
| AHA/VIVA Physicians Research Awards Postdoctoral Fellowships and Career Development Awards fund meritorious clinical research that advances vascular science and foster the development of early-career scientists. Training and mentorship are offered to potential future leaders in the domain of patient-oriented vascular research ranging from health services, to epidemiology, to clinical and translational research. |
TBA |
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| Barth Syndrome Foundation This funding supports a Predoctoral Fellowship or Postdoctoral Fellowship for an investigator proposing innovative basic, clinical, or translational research relevant to the etiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, treatment, epidemiology, and/or prevention of Barth Syndrome. |
TBA | |||
| California Walnut Commission This funding is available for observational or clinical research trials that will improve understanding and expand knowledge promoting healthy dietary patterns (for example, Mediterranean-style diets, plant-forward or food modeling) that include walnut consumption through AHA Predoctoral Fellowships, Postdoctoral Fellowships, and Career Development Awards. |
TBA |
Data Science Grants
| Pre-proposal Deadline | Proposal Deadline | Award Start Date | |
| Assessing Race in Clinical Research Models To take a fresh look at risk prediction models and algorithms in the field of cardiovascular and stroke science that have been adjusted for race, and reevaluate based on potential downstream inequities in disease outcomes and treatments. This award is targeted to early-trainees (predocs, postdocs, and fellows). |
- closed - | -closed- | July 1, 2023 |
| Migraine as a Risk Factor for Stroke and Cardiovascular Disease To use large currently available databases (studies or electronic health record data) with information on migraine and cardiovascular disease, in combination with data science approaches, to assess migraine as a risk factor for cardiac disease and stroke. |
- closed - | -closed- | July 1, 2023 |
AHA Registry Research
| HF, AFIB Proposals | Stroke Proposals | Due Date | |
| Get With The Guidelines® Investigators can apply to participate in the AHA’s Quality Programs Research bi-annually, each fall and spring. |
March 15, 2023 | May, 15, 2023 | |
| AHA/ASA Early Career Investigator Database Research Seed Grant These grants serve as steppingstones to future opportunities in research, collaboration and scientific advancement. Recipients will receive AHA/ASA national level oversight as well as valuable GWTG Committee leadership and mentorship from key volunteer physicians. |
Oct. 16, 2023 | ||
| AHA/ASA Early Career Investigator Database Research Seed Grant - GWTG-Resuscitation These grants serve as steppingstones to future opportunities in resuscitation research, collaboration and scientific advancement. Recipients will receive AHA national level oversight as well as valuable GWTG-Resuscitation Research Task Force leadership and mentorship from key volunteer physicians. One Early Career Investigator research award is available for the adult patient population and one for the pediatric patient population. |
Oct. 16, 2023 |
2023 AHA Holidays
AHA offices will be closed on the following days.
| Jan. 16 | Sept. 4 |
| Mar 31 | Nov. 23 & 24 |
| May 29 | Dec. 26 - Jan. 2 |
| July 4 |