The American Heart Association is launching a new initiative to transform heart transplant care in the United States, nearly 60 years after the first successful heart transplant. The Association's first-ever heart transplant research network will include 14 medical research centers and a coordinating center, bringing together scientists to create a national, unified data, research, and quality care infrastructure. 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, yet more than 3,700 people remained on the waiting list.
“Despite decades of breakthrough advances in cardiovascular medicine, the system supporting heart transplantation has remained largely unchanged,” said Mariell Jessup, M.D., FAHA, chief science and medical officer of the American Heart Association. “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 aims to address fragmented data systems, limited research investment, and lack of standardized quality improvement efforts.
The multi-phase initiative focuses on three key pillars. First, a Global Heart Transplant Data Infrastructure will develop and manage a comprehensive heart transplant database in collaboration with leading transplant organizations. Unlike traditional registries, this dynamic platform will enable real-time insights for research, quality improvement, and policy. Second, a Research Network for Breakthrough Science will bring together top institutions to advance care in areas such as earlier detection of transplant 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 and improve long-term outcomes.
The four-year research grants start July 1, 2026, with the coordinating center 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 Association has funded more than $6.1 billion in cardiovascular research since 1949, making it the largest non-profit, non-government supporter of heart and brain health research in the U.S.
