FIU establishes hub for cardiovascular innovation

With cardiovascular disease remaining the leading cause of death in the United States, this Heart Month (February), FIU is establishing an interdisciplinary center designed to accelerate breakthroughs in heart disease research, education, and innovation.

Backed by an $11.7 million investment from the Florida Heart Research Foundation, the FIU-Florida Heart Research Foundation Center for Innovation in Cardiovascular Health brings together experts in biomedical engineering, medicine, artificial intelligence, computer science, public health, nursing, and the biological sciences. The goal: uncover the fundamental drivers of cardiovascular disease and translate discoveries into improved patient outcomes across Florida and beyond.

There's really nowhere else in the state doing this at this scale and with this level of integration. When you bring engineers, physicians, data scientists, and public health experts together around a shared mission, you dramatically accelerate innovation. This is the right place, the right time, and the right group of people."

Joshua Hutcheson, Professor, Biomedical Engineering, Florida International University

He is also the center's inaugural director. 

Research at the center will focus on AI-powered diagnostics and screening tools, regenerative tissue technologies to help the heart heal after injury, and new approaches to understanding and slowing the progression of heart disease. A central pillar of the initiative is workforce development, with funding supporting high school summer internships, undergraduate and graduate fellowships, start-up funding for early-career faculty, and pilot grants to foster interdisciplinary collaboration.

"This center represents a defining moment for FIU and for cardiovascular research in Florida," said FIU President Jeanette M. Nuñez. "By uniting engineering, medicine, data science, and public health, we are building an ecosystem designed for discovery at the highest level. We are addressing complex cardiovascular challenges with rigor, innovation, and real-world impact."

Hutcheson, a biomedical engineer in FIU's College of Engineering and Computing and an American Heart Association Fellow, has collaborated with the Florida Heart Research Foundation since 2018. That partnership has supported discoveries ranging from a small molecule shown to significantly reduce - and in some cases reverse - late-stage vascular calcification to a low-cost AI-based diagnostic algorithm that accurately identifies unhealthy heart sounds using a digital stethoscope.

"Dr. Hutcheson and the FIU team's work is truly top-notch," said Nancy Cavalie, executive director of the Florida Heart Research Foundation. "This center builds on years of successful collaboration and reflects our shared commitment to advancing research that can save lives."

Rates of cardiovascular disease are projected to rise as Florida's population ages and risk factors such as diabetes, obesity, and high blood pressure increase among younger adults, underscoring the need for new, interdisciplinary solutions.