The battle against heart disease and its wide-reaching effects is now and ongoing, and the good fight is being led by the collaborative efforts of the people at, and working in support of, the American Heart Association (AHA). When combating a disease that causes 1 of every 4 deaths in America1, you need an organized, focused, and effectively funded effort led collaboratively by some of the brightest minds in medicine—and considering those needs, we’re fortunate to have the AHA’s Institute for Precision Cardiovascular Medicine.
Representing a historic shift in research and medical care, the Institute works to introduce and implement solutions to health care and research that support all facets of disease prevention. Being an active member of the AHA’s Circle of Red2 program, I’m aware of how their precision care model aims to bring solutions directly to patients in need by redefining their role in improving the outcome of their care.
The AHA is up against the killer of on average 610,000 Americans annually1, but through precision medicine they’re making strides towards eliminating the risk of life-threatening heart disease. Specifically, precision medicine aims to treat and prevent disease by fully considering an individual’s genes, environment, and lifestyle to create targeted, safer, and ultimately, more effective medical solutions. In an effort to quickly bring the benefits of their model to patients throughout the country the Institute has set three near-term objectives that they’re currently working towards:
- Empower more than 25,000 patients to drive scientific research
- Liberate 750,000 records for the science community, spurring the discovery of disease prevention methods
- Fund $200 million in state-of-the-art, life-saving precision cardiovascular medical research
Achieving even one of these goals would be a major win, but they aren’t working toward one-third of success, and that’s encouraging. I’m a long time, proud supporter of the American Heart Association, and recently of the Institute. I believe in the work they do, and have seen the good they’ve created for lives throughout our country. It’s an honor to play a role in bringing better health care to life, and I encourage everyone reading to share whatever support you can for the Institute and the AHA—it’s only as a collective, collaborative whole, that we can hope to overcome heart disease in America. But I’ve got high hopes, and with your commitment of support, you should too.
<Source>
- Center for Disease Control. “Heart Disease Fact Sheet”. June, 16, 2016. Retrieved from:https://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fs_heart_disease.htm
- Circle of Red – A dynamic, committed and passionate group of individuals who have the influence and resources to significantly impact the community. from:https://ahaboston.ejoinme.org/MyEvents/20162017BostonGoRedForWomen/CircleOfRed/tabid/76
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