American Heart Association launches national heart transplant research network

Nearly 60 years after the first successful heart transplant, the American Heart Association, a relentless force changing the future of health for everyone everywhere, is launching a bold new initiative to fundamentally transform how heart transplant care is delivered across the United States - addressing long-standing gaps in innovation, equity and patient outcomes. The Association's first-ever heart transplant research network will include 14 medical research centers, along with a coordinating center that will bring together scientists from around the country to create a national, unified data, research and quality care infrastructure to improve heart transplant outcomes.

According to the American Heart Association's 2026 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics, about 4,500 heart transplantations were performed in the U.S. Even though that was the most performed in any year, more than 3,700 people remained on the waiting list for heart transplants in 2025.

Despite decades of breakthrough advances in cardiovascular medicine, the system supporting heart transplantation has remained largely unchanged. 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." 

Mariell Jessup, M.D., FAHA, chief science and medical officer, American Heart Association

"This is one of the most high-stakes areas in medicine, yet innovation has lagged far behind. The American Heart Association has an urgent opportunity and responsibility to rethink care for heart transplant patients."

Currently, heart transplant care is hindered by fragmented data systems, limited research investment and a lack of standardized quality improvement efforts. Many clinical guidelines are still based on expert consensus rather than robust, evolving evidence.

The new initiative aims to change that by fostering collaboration across institutions, generating actionable data and ensuring that advances reach all people equitably. The multi-phase initiative is designed to accelerate progress through coordination, data and discovery. The effort will focus on three key pillars:

Global heart transplant data infrastructure

In collaboration with leading transplant organizations, the Association will develop and manage a comprehensive heart transplant database. Unlike traditional registries, this dynamic, harmonized platform will enable real-time insights to support research, quality improvement and policy advancement.

Research network for breakthrough science

The initiative will bring together top institutions across the country to form a research network focused on advancing care in critical areas, including:

• Earlier and more precise detection of transplant rejection
• Remote monitoring technologies to support patients outside the hospital
• Viral surveillance to better manage infection-related risks
• Development of safer, more effective therapies

The network will also support planning grants to accelerate clinical trials and advance research into immune tolerance and chronic rejection, two of the most pressing challenges in transplant medicine.

Coordinated path forward

Modeled after the Association's Get With The Guidelines^® success, a scalable quality improvement framework will be established to drive system-wide change by standardizing transplant care, advancing accessibility to transplants to all and improving long-term outcomes.

The initiative kicks off with the establishment of the new research network, with the four-year research grants starting July 1, 2026. The coordinating center will be led by a team under the direction of Emilia Bagiella, Ph.D., a professor of biostatistics in the Department of Population Health Science & Policy at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.

Other centers within the network include:

• Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, led by Nandan Kumar Mondal, M.Sc., M.Phil., Ph.D., an assistant professor of surgery.
• Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, led by Andriana Nikolova, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor of cardiology.
• Columbia University in New York City, led by Ersilia DeFilippis, M.D., FAHA, an assistant professor of cardiology.
• Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina, led by Adam DeVore, M.D., M.H.S., FAHA, an associate professor of medicine and medical director of the heart transplant program.
• Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, led by Sean Pinney, M.D., a professor of medicine/cardiology and the Philip J. and Harriet L. Goodhart Chair of Cardiology.
• Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, led by Chetan Pasrija, M.D., an assistant professor of cardiac surgery and surgical director of heart failure and cardiac transplantation.
• Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, led by Jose Nativi-Nicolau, M.D., professor of medicine.
• Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, led by Ryan Tedford, M.D., FAHA, a professor of medicine/cardiology, the Dr. Peter C. Gazes Endowed Chair in Heart Failure and section head of heart failure and medical director of cardiac transplantation.
• Stanford University in Stanford, California, led by Kiran Khush, M.D., professor of medicine.
• University of California, San Diego, led by Paul Kim, M.D., an associate professor of medicine.
• University of Colorado Denver in Aurora, led by Amrut Ambardekar, M.D., FAHA, a professor of medicine/cardiology and the director of the cardiac transplantation and cardiac amyloidosis programs.
• University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, led by Maryjane Farr, M.D., FAHA, a professor medicine and the section chief of heart failure, transplant and mechanical circulatory support.
• University of Utah in Salt Lake City, led by Josef Stehlik, M.D., M.P.H., the Christi T. Smith Professor of Medicine and medical director of the heart transplant program.
• Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, led by Kelly Schlendorf, M.D., M.H.S., professor of medicine, director of heart failure and transplant, and medical director of the adult heart transplant program.

For patients and families navigating life after a heart transplant, this initiative represents hope for safer treatments, more personalized care and better long-term outcomes.

"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. "With this ambitious effort, the American Heart Association is taking a critical step toward modernizing heart transplant care, ensuring that innovation in this field finally catches up with the rest of cardiovascular medicine."

Funding scientific research and discovery through initiatives like this is a cornerstone of the century-old American Heart Association's lifesaving mission. The Association has now funded more than $6.1 billion in cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and brain health research since 1949, making it the single largest non-profit, non-government supporter of heart and brain health research in the U.S. New knowledge resulting from this funding continues to save lives and directly impact millions of people in every corner of the U.S. and around the world.

More than 8 in 10 (82%) U.S. adults say they are confident in the American Heart Association to provide trustworthy information related to public health, according to a recent Annenberg Policy Center poll. The Association ranked second only to an individual's personal health care provider.