The American Heart Association is providing $3.4 million in grants to two multidisciplinary research teams to launch a new initiative focused on improving cardiac arrest outcomes. The grants, announced June 29, 2026, establish the Cardiac Arrest Research Team (CART) Network in collaboration with Heart & Stroke, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. The network aims to accelerate scientific discoveries and translate them into practice to improve survival and quality of life for cardiac arrest patients and their families.
More than 600,000 cardiac arrests occur annually in the United States, with low survival rates both in and out of hospital settings, according to the American Heart Association. The new research initiative seeks to address this by better understanding how to predict and detect cardiac arrests, with the ultimate goal of improving treatment and recovery.
One team, led by Joshua Lupton, M.D., M.P.H., M.Phil., an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) and a cardiac arrest survivor himself, will focus on "Accelerating Successful Defibrillation and Survivor Recovery for Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest." The team includes researchers from OHSU and the University of Pittsburgh. Their work will examine how emergency responders administer electric shocks with defibrillators, including testing different placements of defibrillator pads to see if one position helps the heart restart faster. They will also use artificial intelligence to analyze whether varying the timing between shocks improves survival. Additionally, the team will work with survivors and families to identify best practices for support and resources, including peer-support programs.
The second team, led by Ari Moskowitz, M.D., M.P.H., FAHA, an associate professor of critical care medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Health System in New York, will research "Vasopressor Strategy in Cardiac Arrest to Optimize Recovery" (VICTORY-CART). This team includes researchers from Columbia University, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Washington. They will compare two commonly used blood pressure medicines after cardiac arrest to determine which leads to better survival and recovery. The study aims to identify ways to ensure more effective and consistent treatment across different hospital settings.
Both teams will collaborate with people who have lived experience with cardiac arrest, including survivors, family members, and those who lost loved ones. Stacey E. Rosen, M.D., FAHA, volunteer president of the American Heart Association, emphasized the importance of this initiative, stating, "Cardiac arrest is a profound and tragic occurrence and we know seconds matter in making sure people get the right life-saving treatment at the right time." The four-year research grants begin July 1, 2026, and are part of the Association's Emergency Cardiovascular Care 2030 Impact Goals to double cardiac arrest survival rates within five years.
The American Heart Association has funded more than $6.1 billion in cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and brain health research since 1949, making it the largest non-profit supporter of heart and brain health research in the U.S. A recent Annenberg Policy Center poll found that 82% of U.S. adults trust the American Heart Association to provide trustworthy health information, ranking second only to personal health care providers.
