The American Heart Association announced the establishment of its first-ever heart transplant research network, a bold initiative aimed at transforming heart transplant care across the United States. The network includes 14 medical research centers and a coordinating center, bringing together scientists to create a national, unified data, research, and quality care infrastructure. This effort seeks to address long-standing gaps in innovation, equity, and patient outcomes in heart transplantation.
According to the American Heart Association’s 2026 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics, about 4,500 heart transplantations were performed in the U.S. in 2025, the highest number in any year. However, more than 3,700 people remained on the waiting list. Despite decades of advances in cardiovascular medicine, the system supporting heart transplantation has remained largely unchanged, with challenges such as difficulty detecting rejection early, reliance on outdated immunosuppressive therapies, and inconsistent outcomes, particularly among Black patients and children.
“This is one of the most high-stakes areas in medicine, yet innovation has lagged far behind,” said Mariell Jessup, M.D., FAHA, the chief science and medical officer of the American Heart Association. “The American Heart Association has an urgent opportunity and responsibility to rethink care for heart transplant patients.”
The initiative focuses on three key pillars. First, a global heart transplant data infrastructure will be developed in collaboration with leading transplant organizations, creating a dynamic, harmonized platform for real-time insights to support research, quality improvement, and policy. Second, a research network will advance breakthrough science in areas such as earlier detection of rejection, remote monitoring technologies, viral surveillance, and development of safer therapies. The network will also support planning grants for clinical trials on immune tolerance and chronic rejection. Third, a coordinated path forward will establish a scalable quality improvement framework, modeled after the Association’s Get With The Guidelines® success, to standardize care, advance accessibility, and improve long-term outcomes.
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. 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 initiative represents hope for safer treatments, more personalized care, and better long-term outcomes for patients and families navigating life after a heart transplant.
