Funding and Award Opportunities


Advance Your Research

with Funding and Recognition Awards

Research funding programs are available throughout the year. And the Professional Councils offer various awards, as well. Find your opportunities below.


Council Awards and Lectures

AHA scientific councils award financial stipends, recognize special presentations and provide travel funding to attend AHA scientific meetings. Each council sponsors awards for its members throughout the year:

Investigator Initiated Research

Test Award 0210

Proposal Deadline: Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Ralph L Sacco Scholarships in Brain Health

Pre-Proposal Deadline: Wednesday, February 18, 2026

Jointly funded by the American Academy of Neurology and the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, with funds from a generous bequest by Dr. Ralph L. Sacco, this program enables early career trainees to undertake a mentored two-year research project targeting various aspects of brain health. Projects for this cycle must focus on prevention, with a clear connection to either neurological or mental/behavioral health.

Transformational Project Award

Pre-Proposal Deadline: Thursday, January 21, 2027

Supports highly innovative, high-impact projects that build on work in progress that could ultimately lead to critical discoveries or major advancements that will accelerate the field of cardiovascular and/or cerebrovascular research. Research deemed innovative may be built around an emerging paradigm, approaching an existing problem from a new perspective, or exhibit other uniquely creative qualities.

Established Investigator Award

Proposal Deadline: TBD

Supports established investigators in rapid career growth phase, with records of accomplishments and showing extraordinary promise. Candidates will have a demonstrated commitment to cardiovascular or cerebrovascular science disciplines that support the AHA’s mission, as indicated by funding and publication history and scientific accomplishments. Candidates should propose an innovative/novel research direction that challenges existing paradigms and employs novel concepts, approaches, or technologies.

Collaborative Sciences Award

Proposal Deadline: TBD

Fosters innovative collaborative approaches to research projects that propose novel pairings of investigators from at least two broadly disparate disciplines. The proposal must focus on the collaborative relationship, such that the scientific objectives could not be achieved without the efforts of at least two co-principal investigators and their respective disciplines.

Test Award TBD

Proposal Deadline: TBD

AHA Registry Research

Test Award 0210

Proposal Deadline: Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Test Award TBD

Proposal Deadline: TBD

Data Science Grants

Test Award 0210

Proposal Deadline: Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Test Award TBD

Proposal Deadline: TBD

Topic Focused Funding

Test Award 0210

Proposal Deadline: Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Heart Transplantation Research Network

Proposal Deadline: Wednesday, March 10, 2027

Test Award TBD

Proposal Deadline: TBD

View all AHA research program descriptions on the Funding Opportunities page.

2025 AHA Holiday Office Closings

Jan. 1 Sept. 1
Jan. 20 Nov. 27 & 28
May 26 Dec. 22-26
July 4