The American Heart Association announced $3.4 million in grants for two research teams to lead new initiatives focused on cardiac arrest. The grants, part of the newly established Cardiac Arrest Research Team (CART) Network, aim to improve survival rates and recovery outcomes for the more than 600,000 cardiac arrests that occur annually in the U.S.
The CART Network is a collaboration between the American Heart Association and Heart & Stroke, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. The network will bring together multidisciplinary teams from both countries to share expertise and accelerate scientific discoveries.
One grant, titled 'Accelerating Successful Defibrillation and Survivor Recovery for Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest,' will be led by Dr. Joshua Lupton of Oregon Health & Science University, a cardiac arrest survivor himself. The team will study optimal placement of defibrillator pads and use artificial intelligence to determine ideal timing between shocks. They will also work with survivors and families to improve post-arrest support and peer programs.
The second grant, 'Vasopressor Strategy in Cardiac Arrest to Optimize Recovery-Cardiac Arrest Research Team (VICTORY-CART),' will be led by Dr. Ari Moskowitz of Albert Einstein College of Medicine. This team will compare two common blood pressure medicines used after cardiac arrest to determine which leads to better survival and neurological recovery. The study aims to standardize treatment across hospitals.
Both teams will incorporate perspectives from survivors, family members, and those who lost loved ones. Stacey E. Rosen, volunteer president of the American Heart Association, emphasized the importance of seconds in cardiac arrest treatment and the goal to double survival rates within five years under the Association's Emergency Cardiovascular Care 2030 Impact Goals.
The four-year grants begin July 1, 2026. The American Heart Association has funded over $6.1 billion in cardiovascular research since 1949, making it the largest non-profit supporter of heart and brain health research in the U.S. According to a recent Annenberg Policy Center poll, 82% of U.S. adults trust the Association for public health information.
