DALLAS, April 30, 2020 -- Less than a month after issuing a rapid response call for scientific research proposals for fast-tracked studies of the effects of COVID-19 on the body's cardiovascular and cerebrovascular systems, the American Heart Association has awarded $1.2 million in grants to teams at 12 institutions across the U.S. to begin this unprecedented work. Additional funding for special research projects within each of the four new Health Technologies & Innovations Strategically Focused Research Centers brings the Association's COVID-19 related scientific research funding to $2 million.
The COVID-19 and Its Cardiovascular Impact Rapid Response Grant initiative received an overwhelming response, with more than 750 proposals submitted, marking it as one of the Association's largest submissions to a single topic request for applications.
"We were just blown away and so impressed to see this level of interest and commitment from the teams submitting such thorough proposals so quickly -- our submission deadline was less than two weeks," said American Heart Association president Robert A. Harrington, M.D., FAHA, Arthur L. Bloomfield Professor of Medicine and chair of the department of medicine at Stanford University. "Once those responses started coming in, we were yet again amazed as over 150 of our volunteers stepped up immediately to offer to review these proposals and got those reviews completed in less than 10 days. What a testament to our researcher community being so ready to activate in these extraordinary times, it's just very gratifying and humbling."
Cleveland Clinic was selected to serve as the initiative's COVID-19 Coordinating Center. A team from this center, led by Mina K. Chung, M.D, Professor of Medicine, will collect results from the research projects and coordinate the dissemination of all study findings.
The research projects include:
"Several of these studies focus on disparity and underserved populations and many with pre-existing conditions and that's critical because we're seeing these people coming in sicker and getting sicker faster from the complications of COVID-19 and we need to understand what's causing that and how we can help them," Harrington said. "There's so much we don't know about this unique coronavirus and we continue to see emerging complications affecting both heart and brain health for which we desperately need answers and we need them quickly."
The research projects are considered fast-tracked to report results as quickly as possible to address the COVID-19 crisis. Research will get underway as early as June 1, with findings expected in less than six to nine months for most of the studies. Several researchers aim to have actionable outcomes before a new anticipated wave of COVID-19 strikes in the winter.
Along with these new rapid response research grants, the American Heart Association is also funding $800,000 in supplemental, short-term special projects for the four centers in its new Health Technologies & Innovation Strategically Focused Research Network. This funding is in addition to their original grants announced earlier this month and will focus on rapid technology solutions to address the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Those projects include:
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Funding research such as these projects is a cornerstone of the American Heart Association's lifesaving mission. The Association has funded more than $4.6 billion in cardiovascular research since 1949, making it the single largest non-government supporter of heart and brain health research in the U.S.
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