The American Heart Association (AHA) has launched a bold new initiative to fundamentally transform how heart transplant care is delivered across the United States, addressing long-standing gaps in innovation, equity and patient outcomes. The Association's first-ever heart transplant research network will include 14 medical research centers and a coordinating center, bringing together scientists from around the country to create a national, unified data, research and quality care infrastructure to improve heart transplant outcomes.
According to the AHA's 2026 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics, about 4,500 heart transplantations were performed in the U.S., the most in any year, yet more than 3,700 people remained on the waiting list in 2025. “Despite decades of breakthrough advances in cardiovascular medicine, the system supporting heart transplantation has remained largely unchanged,” said Mariell Jessup, M.D., FAHA, the AHA's chief science and medical officer. “Today, transplant recipients still face serious challenges, including difficulty detecting heart rejection early, reliance on immunosuppressive therapies that have seen little advancement over the past 20 years and inconsistent outcomes, especially among Black patients and children.”
The initiative focuses on three key pillars: a global heart transplant data infrastructure, a research network for breakthrough science, and a coordinated path forward. In collaboration with leading transplant organizations, the AHA will develop a comprehensive heart transplant database enabling real-time insights for research and quality improvement. The research network will focus on critical areas such as earlier detection of rejection, remote monitoring technologies, viral surveillance, and development of safer therapies. Modeled after the AHA's Get With The Guidelines program, a scalable quality improvement framework will standardize care and improve long-term outcomes.
The four-year research grants start July 1, 2026. The coordinating center will be led by Emilia Bagiella, Ph.D., at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Other centers include Baylor College of Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Columbia University, Duke University, Johns Hopkins University, Mayo Clinic, Medical University of South Carolina, Stanford University, University of California San Diego, University of Colorado Denver, University of Pennsylvania, University of Utah, and Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
“By bringing together this exceptional data, research and clinical expertise, the Heart Association can help accelerate discoveries and translate them into better care for every patient, no matter who they are or where they live,” Jessup said. The AHA has now funded more than $6.1 billion in cardiovascular research since 1949, making it the largest non-profit supporter of heart and brain health research in the U.S.
