The American Heart Association announced the launch of a groundbreaking research network to modernize heart transplant care across the United States, addressing long-standing gaps in innovation, equity, and patient outcomes. The network, the Association’s first-ever focused on heart transplantation, includes 14 medical research centers and a coordinating center, bringing together scientists to create a national infrastructure for data, research, and quality care.
According to the American Heart Association’s 2026 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics, about 4,500 heart transplants were performed in the U.S. in the most recent year, the highest number ever, yet more than 3,700 people remained on the waiting list in 2025. The initiative aims to improve outcomes for patients, who face challenges such as difficulty detecting rejection early, reliance on outdated immunosuppressive therapies, and inconsistent outcomes, particularly among Black patients and children.
“Despite decades of breakthrough advances in cardiovascular medicine, the system supporting heart transplantation has remained largely unchanged,” said Mariell Jessup, M.D., FAHA, the Association’s chief science and medical officer, in a press release. “This is one of the most high-stakes areas in medicine, yet innovation has lagged far behind.”
The network will focus on three key pillars: a global heart transplant data infrastructure, a research network for breakthrough science, and a coordinated path forward modeled after the Association’s Get With The Guidelines program. The data infrastructure will be a dynamic, harmonized platform enabling real-time insights for research, quality improvement, and policy. The research network will advance care in areas such as earlier and more precise detection of rejection, remote monitoring technologies, viral surveillance, and development of safer therapies.
The four-year research grants begin July 1, 2026. The coordinating center is led by Emilia Bagiella, Ph.D., at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. Other centers include Baylor College of Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Columbia University, Duke University School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 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 Association has funded more than $6.1 billion in cardiovascular research since 1949.
This initiative represents hope for patients and families navigating life after a heart transplant, aiming for safer treatments and better long-term outcomes. The Association ranked second only to personal health care providers in public trust, according to a recent Annenberg Policy Center poll.
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