GWTG Data Research Award

• This request for proposals (RFP) is by invitation only to researchers who have attended a GWTG Data Bootcamp and received a certificate of completion to learn how to use the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Get With The Guidelines (GWTG) Data for Research Awards. 
  
  
  • You can sign up to attend an upcoming GWTG Data Bootcamp via registration for Scientific Sessions 2024 or the International Stroke Conference 2025 (ISC registration link is not yet available). Add the GWTG Data Bootcamp to your registration under “Special Ticketed Events”.
    
    
• The goal of this RFP is to address the impact of social determinants of health (SDOH) on areas related to atrial fibrillation (AFib), coronary artery disease (CAD), heart failure (HF), resuscitation, and stroke, by using the AHA’s GWTG data linked to SDOH or the AFib or Resuscitation datasets that can be supplemented/linked with publicly available datasets of the applicant’s choice. 
  
  
• Proposals must be received no later than 3 p.m. Central Time on the deadline dates 1/15/25 and 4/4/25.
  
  
• Before beginning an application, review the eligibility and requirements that apply to all AHA research awards at AHA Application Resources page.
  
  
• All proposals must be submitted electronically via ProposalCentral. The system will open eight weeks prior to the application deadline to complete your proposal and upload documents. You can begin to create your documents now; please refer to the AHA Application Instructions (PDF). All submissions require a signature from a designated institutional representative.

• Applicants must be AHA Professional Members at the time of application. This must be done online. Join or begin the membership process well before the deadline.

• Up to 10 awards will be funded at $50,000 per award for 1 year for each funding opportunity deadline (Jan and Apr 2025; in total up to 20 awards will be funded).

At the American Heart Association, equity and science are at the center of everything we do. We are interested in funding research to address the impact of SDOH on areas related to AFib, CAD, Stroke, Heart Failure, or Resuscitation.

The AHA’s GWTG is a hospital-based quality improvement program that includes modules in AFib, CAD, Stroke, Heart Failure, or Resuscitation. The clinical and lab data is abstracted from EHRs in hospitals around the United States. The CAD, Stroke, and HF datasets have been linked with SDOH including:

• Health disparities include environmental threats, individual and behavioral factors, inadequate access to health care, poverty, and educational inequalities.
  
  
• Social determinants of health include resources such as food supply, housing, economic and social relationships, education, and health care.
  
  
• Structural determinants of health include economic, governing and social policies that affect pay, working conditions, housing and education.

The purpose of this RFP is to test the role of SDOH in cardiovascular disease and stroke. The applicant will leverage one of the GWTG datasets (AFib, CAD, Stroke, HF, or Resuscitation) in the Precision Medicine Platform to ask new and innovative questions regarding the role of SDOH in cardiovascular disease and stroke.

Examples of research applications include but are not limited to:
i)    Does education level impact the incidence of ___ or recovery from ___?
ii)   Does median household income, poverty, income per capita, or home ownership impact the quality of care for individuals with ___?
iii)  Do environmental exposure levels impact the incident of ___?

The GWTG CAD, Stroke, and HF data are linked* to SDOH data. The GWTG AFib and Resuscitation data can be supplemented/linked* with publicly available datasets of the applicant’s choice.

* Please note that linked datasets provided by the AHA or any linkage the applicant chooses to do (i.e. AFib, Resuscitation) is only conducted and allowed from a geographic perspective. The datasets are not to be linked with any other patient level data sources.

The AHA collects millions of patient records in our Quality Programs (>14 million), creating vast databases for advancing scientific research. The GWTG Stroke, AFib, CAD, HF, and Resuscitation datasets contain approximately 8.9M, 125k, 500k, 2.4M, and 1.2M records respectively. Using the data that is collected through AHA's national GWTG programs, researchers can test hypotheses and apply for AHA research grants.

AHA’s Quality Programs Research has been a highly valuable source for quality outcomes-based research, with more than 800 peer-reviewed studies published using these data.

To be eligible and invited to apply for this award, individuals must have attended a GWTG data bootcamp to learn how to use the GWTG data and received a GWTG Data Bootcamp certificate of completion. Please refer to information and links regarding bootcamp training at the top of this RFA.

• Investigators of all ranks are invited to apply. The applicant must be embedded in an appropriate investigative group with the mentorship, support and relevant scientific guidance of a research mentor.
  
  
• The applicant and mentor should provide a thoughtfully planned, systematic proposal aimed at clearly answering an investigative question using the GWTG dataset of choice (only choose ONE: AFib, CAD, HF, Stroke, or Resuscitation) in the Precision Medicine Platform (required). The bootcamps will provide grantsmanship tips.

• Every applicant must be an American Heart Association professional member.

• Join or renew when preparing an application in Proposal Central, online or by phone at 301-223-2307 or 800-787-8984.  
  
  
• Membership/Partnership processing takes 3 to 5 days; do not wait until the application deadline to renew or join.

• Projects may include collaborators from across sectors and countries; however, the project proposal must be submitted by a project lead representing an academic or non-profit organization based in the United States.
   
• Projects may include co-investigators from other collaborating organizations. We strongly recommend that organizations identify only one project lead per project.
   
• Preference will be given to applicant organizations that are institutes of higher education, public entities, or nonprofits that are tax exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and are not private foundations or Type III supporting organizations. Other types of nonprofit and for-profit organizations are also eligible to apply. The American Heart Association may require additional documentation.
   
• Organizations that are currently funded through other American Heart Association funding mechanisms can apply.
   
• Organizations can submit multiple proposals.
  
  
• All grantees are required to use the Precision Medicine Platform.

Full proposals must be submitted by January 15, 2025 OR April 4, 2025. Additional application information must be provided in ProposalCentral. The checklist below highlights the specific topic related requirements associated with this funding opportunity.

CHECKLIST

A.  Download and complete the Research Plan Template (docx). The completed document will be uploaded into ProposalCentral. The Research Plan is limited to 6 pages (12-point font, single space, .5-inch margins on all sides) that includes: 

1. Specific Aims, Objectives and Hypothesis

• Provide a clear, concise summary of the aims of the work proposed.
• State the hypothesis to be tested.

2. Rationale, Novelty and Significance

3. Research Design and Methods  – The applicant may include a link to a HTML Notebook created on the Precision Medicine Platform through Jupyter Notebook or R Markdown (see below) with the following information AND/OR directly respond with the information requested within the research plan document.  If using the HTML notebook, make sure that it is formatted properly for reviewers to review with ease.

a. Study Population, Variables to be utilized, primary and secondary outcomes and endpoints, proposed statistical analysis, expected outcomes and deliverables, a timeline, and project success milestones, potential difficulties and limitations of the proposed procedures and alternative approaches to achieve the aims.

A link to an HTML Notebook is highly encouraged; this notebook would be created in a workspace on the Precision Medicine Platform through Jupyter Notebook or R Markdown. Please review detailed instructions.

b. When you visit the above noted link, scroll down to the Precision Medicine Platform section to find the notebook details.

c. Please review the Precision Medicine Platform section below in this RFA that follows for more information and expectations for use.  

B.  Works Cited - Pages for Works Cited are not included in 6-page limit.

C.  Biosketches of Principal Investigator(s), Co-Investigator(s) (5 pages each) - Upload your NIH biosketch OMB No. 0925-0001 and 0925-0002 (Rev. 10/2021 Approved Through 01/31/2026). It is not necessary to reformat to AHA page specifications. The AHA requires all applicants to provide additional information. Please carefully review the biosketch instructions and provide the required  information in the Personal Statement section.

D.  Letter of Support from a mentor or supervisor describing the environment, training and mentorship they will provide you with during this award. 

E.  Budget - Information should include:

• Salary and fringe benefits of the project lead, collaborating investigators and other participating research staff or faculty.
  • It is strongly suggested that the principal investigator have at least 10% effort committed to this project.
  • It is strongly suggested that the mentor does not receive salary support.
• Project-related expenses such as travel and publication costs in accordance with institutional and American Heart Association policies. 
• Please note that the American Heart Association does not fund the costs of program implementation or operations beyond what is established in an approved budget.
• Maximum of 10% institutional indirect costs may be claimed on the award.
• The awardee will be responsible for overseeing the total budget for the grant. If awarded, the project lead and the institution assume an obligation to expend grant funds for the research purposes set forth in the application and in accordance with all regulations and policies governing the grant programs of the American Heart Association.

For all other required items not listed, please refer to sections displayed in your Proposal Central application (e.g.: funding overlap, Assurances, Research Classifications, etc.).

Applications will be reviewed 1/3 on the proposed project, 1/3 on the investigator(s), and 1/3 on the letter of support from a mentor.

1.  Proposed Project

• Are the conceptual framework, design, methods, and analyses adequately developed, well-integrated, well-reasoned, feasible (as determined by preliminary data) and appropriate to the aims of the proposal? 
• How does the proposed work significantly add to the work in the field of SDOH and AFib, CAD, Stroke, HF, or Resuscitation? 
• Does this study move the field of research on SDOH and AFib, CAD, Stroke, HF or Resuscitation?
• If the aims of the application are achieved, how will scientific knowledge or clinical practice be advanced? 
• What will be the effect of these studies on the concepts, methods and technologies that drive this field?

2.  Investigator(s)
The peer review committee will assess the merit of each investigator based on the biosketch(es) provided and information in the letter of support.

3.  Letter of Support from Mentor
The peer review committee will assess the strength of the research environment, relevant training that will take place during the award, and the experience and expertise of the mentor.  

Award Duration & Amount:

• 1-year award from date of funding. Up to $50,000 per award (including 10% indirect costs).
• The AHA anticipates funding up to 10 awards for each funding opportunity deadline (Jan and Apr 2025; in total up to 20 awards will be funded).
• The AHA reserves the right to determine the final number of awardees.
• An additional Amazon Web Services (AWS) credit (up to $10,000) for use of the American Heart Association Precision Medicine Platform may be provided for computational time, use of AWS tools and infrastructure, and storage. Credit amount will be determined based on estimated need over duration of the grant.

To access and analyze AHA GWTG data, the AHA offers a cloud-based research data analysis platform, The Precision Medicine Platform, with secure, private workspaces equipped with tools for data analysis, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. The Precision Medicine Platform is the only research interface with access to The American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines registry data.

It is required that any data analysis for your project be conducted via the American Heart Association’s Precision Medicine Platform, powered by Amazon Web Services. Our intent is to help applicants gain confidence leveraging cloud computing for applications and projects.

The Precision Medicine Platform provides you with a secure cloud computing workspace for you to use for the application and during the term of the award that allows researchers to code in various languages, including R and Python, and to use statistical software including but not limited to SAS and R studio. The most up-to-date machine learning and artificial intelligence software available from Amazon Web Services is also included. Researchers are also able to install their own tools.

The American Heart Association asks that the grantees also accelerate collaboration through the sharing of data and code as well as the coordination for interoperability of data to facilitate findability and sustainability. The American Heart Association fully supports the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) guiding principles of data stewardship. The Precision Medicine Platform helps to support this principle by also serving as a data marketplace and enables you to share your data and make it available to other researchers.

The Platform is HIPAA and FedRAMP compliant. Learn more about the Platform’s Security Information.

To learn more about the Precision Medicine Platform:

• Overview
• Full list of available analytical tools

Additional Requirements

• Any inventions, intellectual property, and patents resulting from this funding are governed by the AHA's Patent, Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Policy.
• The applicant/awardee and institution are responsible for compliance with all AHA research award policies and guidelines for the duration of any awards they may receive.
• Visit the Research Programs Awards Policies page for more information on this topic: American Heart Association Policies Governing All Research Awards.

Change to AHA Open Data Policy

For awards beginning in FY 23-24, the AHA has modified its Open Data Policy to align with the NIH’s new timeline for data sharing, effective for proposals submitted to the AHA after July 1, 2023. Read more on AHA Open Science Policies.

Revised AHA Open Data Policy: The AHA requires certain applicants to include a data sharing plan with the proposal. Any factual data that is needed for independent verification of research results must be made freely and publicly available in an AHA-approved repository as soon as possible, and no later than the time of an associated publication or the end of the award period (and any no-cost extension), whichever comes first.

* Existing awards are subject to the policy in place when the award agreement was signed. If a new award agreement is required (e.g., change of PI, change of institution) award is subject to policies in place at the time the agreement is signed.

For questions and assistance: [email protected]