Cardiovascular disease research — NIH Funding Overview
Reviewed by Dr. Meng ZhaoLast reviewed June 9, 2026Data refreshed September 5, 2026Editorial standards
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) research at NIH is led by NHLBI, with contributions from NIA, NIDDK, and NHGRI on metabolic and genetic risk. Active areas include heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), atherosclerosis biology, hypertension, arrhythmia genetics, and population-level prevention.
Funding snapshot
Award data on this page reflects a snapshot of NIH RePORTER records last refreshed on September 5, 2026. For live numbers, use the interactive trends view.
Why this matters now
CVD remains the leading cause of death in the U.S., and NIH portfolios have expanded with the GLP-1 era to include cardiometabolic intersections. Implementation and equity science has grown alongside the BLOCK and STRIVE-related programs.
How NIH funds this area
NHLBI mechanisms include R01, U01, P01, K-series, and large clinical trial cooperative agreements (U10, U24). Data below covers all NIH awards mentioning cardiovascular in title, abstract, or terms.
How to use this funding brief
Use this page to narrow cardiovascular funding into heart failure, atherosclerosis, hypertension, arrhythmia, prevention, or implementation science. Broad totals are useful for scale, but institute fit becomes clearer only after choosing the clinical or biological decision your project addresses.
Official source: NHLBI: Heart and vascular diseases research
Search tactics
- Search "heart failure", "atherosclerosis", "hypertension", or "arrhythmia" for narrower scope.
- For population science, search "cardiovascular disparities" or "CVD prevention".
- NHLBI Comprehensive Sickle Cell Centers and population studies are large-scale anchors.
What the data shows
- Funding peaked in FY2023 at $4.1B. The FY2025 total of $3.6B is +3% versus FY2021.
- The number of awards fell about 7% in FY2025 even as total dollars grew — funding is concentrating in fewer, larger awards.
- About 78% of FY2026 dollars so far are non-Type-1 award actions, including competing renewals, supplements, non-competing continuations, and institutional changes. This is a descriptive record mix, not a measure of renewal activity alone.
- The average FY2025 award was $622K, and R01 was the most common mechanism in the recent window.
Editorial read
Cardiovascular funding is large but flat: FY2025 is essentially unchanged from FY2021 and below the FY2023 peak, across one of the biggest award bases we track (more than 33,000 awards in five years). Flat nominal funding in a portfolio this size usually means intensifying competition at the margins — the momentum lives in subfields like heart failure, arrhythmia, and implementation science, so narrow the question before judging the market.
Yearly NIH Awards for Cardiovascular disease research
Counts and total funding per fiscal year from NIH RePORTER. Recent fiscal years may understate final totals because of reporting lag.
| Fiscal Year | Project Count | Total Funding | Avg Award |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2021 | 6,394 | $3,528,054,103 | $551,776 |
| FY2022 | 6,387 | $3,761,823,957 | $588,981 |
| FY2023 | 6,421 | $4,050,524,991 | $630,825 |
| FY2024 | 6,251 | $3,807,237,798 | $609,061 |
| FY2025 | 5,819 | $3,620,837,884 | $622,244 |
| FY2026 | 4,170 | $2,561,056,754 | $614,162 |
Open the full interactive trends view for Cardiovascular disease research →
Top NIH Institutes (last 90 days)
Which NIH institutes funded the most CVD projects in the most recent 90-day window.
| Institute | Awards (90d) | Funding (90d) |
|---|---|---|
| NIH | 495 | $326,012,894 |
| ALLCDC | 1 | $350,000 |
| VA | 4 | $0 |
Common Activity Codes (last 90 days)
Which grant mechanisms (R01, R21, U01, P30, etc.) appeared most often for CVD in the recent period.
Most Active Institutions (last 90 days)
Universities and research organizations with the most CVD awards in the most recent 90-day window.
- MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL — 14 awards
- STANFORD UNIVERSITY — 12 awards
- YALE UNIVERSITY — 12 awards
- DUKE UNIVERSITY — 11 awards
- UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES — 11 awards
- BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL — 11 awards
- UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH — 10 awards
- COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES — 10 awards
Recently Awarded Cardiovascular disease research Grants
Twelve most recent awards mentioning CVD, drawn from NIH RePORTER. Click through to Find PIs for the full investigator search.
Use of Registries, Claims and Health System Data to Enhance the Evaluation of Cardiovascular Devices
5R01HL136708-09Robert Yeh · BETH ISRAEL DEACONESS MEDICAL CENTER, MA · $714,385 · awarded Aug 28, 2026 · R01PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT There is an urgent need to develop and implement more efficient approaches to evaluate cardiovascular devices in representative patient populations. Data from registries, health care systems, and payers, often include detailed clinical baseline information and longitudinal outcomes on a large number of patients representative of…
IND-enabling studies of a USP30 inhibitor for acute kidney injury
1R44DK143820-01A1Bahareh Behrouz · VINCERE BIOSCIENCES, INC., MA · $1,297,479 · awarded Aug 28, 2026 · R44ABSTRACT Existing treatments for acute kidney injury (AKI) are limited to supportive care, and there are no current therapies that can modify the disease course or prevent progression to chronic kidney disease (CKD) and ultimately end-stage renal disease (ESRD). While AKI has multiple causes, cardiac surgery-associated AKI (CSA-AKI) is a major etiology.…
Molecular Regulation of Cardiovascular 7 TM Receptors
5R01HL016037-54ROBERT LEFKOWITZ · DUKE UNIVERSITY, NC · $671,613 · awarded Aug 28, 2026 · R01PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT MOLECULAR REGULATION OF CARDIOVASCULAR SEVEN TRANSMEMBRANE RECEPTORS. All aspects of cardiovascular function are regulated by members of the seven transmembrane receptor (7TMR or GPCR) family, and they are the commonest target of therapeutic drugs. A universal mechanism regulating these receptors is desensitization of heterotrimeric…
Low Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Chronotropic Incompetence in HIV: Risk Factors, Cardiovascular Implications, and Exercise Training as Treatment
5K23HL172699-04Matthew Durstenfeld · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES, CA · $197,748 · awarded Aug 28, 2026 · K23ABSTRACT This is a K23 Patient-Oriented Mentored Career Development award for Dr. Matthew Durstenfeld. His proposed research focuses on cardiorespiratory fitness and chronotropic incompetence and their implications for cardiovascular disease among people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Candidate: Dr. Durstenfeld is a board-certified internist and…
SGLT2i As Novel Gout Care (SAVE-Care): A Randomized Controlled Trial
5R61AR084188-02HYON CHOI · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL, MA · $219,637 · awarded Aug 28, 2026 · R61Gout is the most common inflammatory arthritis, affecting >12 million US adults (5.1%); its global disease burden continues to increase. As a metabolic-inflammatory condition, gout is strongly associated with multiple cardiometabolic and kidney comorbidities. The ‘modern gout epidemic’ and suboptimal gout care contribute to high rates of recurrent gout…
Effect of gestational arsenic exposure on maternal cardiovascular health
1R01ES038115-01A1Mark Kohr · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, MD · $787,370 · awarded Aug 28, 2026 · R01PROJECT SUMMARY The US has one of the highest maternal mortality rates among high income countries, largely resulting from adverse cardiovascular complications in pregnancy, which account for 1 in 3 maternal deaths. Maternal heart growth occurs in pregnancy due to hormonal changes and plasma volume expansion, and while these changes are generally…
Deep learning to assess cardiovascular disease risk from chest imaging
5K01HL168231-03Vineet Raghu · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL, MA · $175,230 · awarded Aug 28, 2026 · K01PROJECT SUMMARY Vineet Raghu, PhD is a computer scientist whose career goal is to improve early detection and prevention of chronic disease by applying artificial intelligence to large datasets of medical imaging, genomics, risk factors, and outcomes to better estimate risk and derive insight into etiology. Dr. Raghu is an Instructor of Radiology at Harvard…
Investigating the Role of Macrophages in Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction
5R00HL157689-05Niranjana Natarajan · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH, PA · $249,000 · awarded Aug 28, 2026 · R00CHALLENGE: Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is a complex clinical syndrome that presents with heart failure symptoms, unaltered left ventricular ejection fraction, and is associated with comorbidities including obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome. HFpEF accounts for ~50% of all heart failure (HF) and is characterized by diastolic…
Myocardial Fibrosis and Steatosis Burden and Region-Specific Predictors of Progression among ART-treated Women with HIV infection in sub-Saharan Africa (The MUTIMA Study)
3R01HL167645-04S1Chris Longenecker · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, WA · $164,709 · awarded Aug 28, 2026 · R01Project Summary/Abstract Heart failure (HF) is a major barrier to healthy aging among people with HIV (PWH) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Women with HIV (WWH) may be most vulnerable, with a nearly two-fold increased risk for HIV- attributable HF among women vs. men. Why HIV-attributable HF risk is higher in women is incompletely understood, but among WWH,…
Myocardial Fibrosis and Steatosis Burden and Region-Specific Predictors of Progression among ART-treated Women with HIV infection in sub-Saharan Africa (The MUTIMA Study)
3R01HL167645-04S2Chris Longenecker · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, WA · $347,491 · awarded Aug 28, 2026 · R01Project Summary/Abstract Heart failure (HF) is a major barrier to healthy aging among people with HIV (PWH) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Women with HIV (WWH) may be most vulnerable, with a nearly two-fold increased risk for HIV- attributable HF among women vs. men. Why HIV-attributable HF risk is higher in women is incompletely understood, but among WWH,…
Investigating Cellular Immunometabolic Mechanisms Underlying HIV-Related Cardiovascular Disease Risk
7R01HL160392-05Michael Corley · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO, CA · $445,200 · awarded Aug 28, 2026 · R01Project Summary Older people living with HIV (PLWH) disparately experience an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and develop exacerbated age-related cardiometabolic comorbidities compared to uninfected individuals. Multiple risk factors in older people living with HIV including aging, HIV alone, antiretroviral therapy, microbial translocation,…
Sex-specific arrhythmogenic mechanisms of atrial fibrillation
5R01HL131517-11Eleonora Grandi · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS, CA · $622,194 · awarded Aug 28, 2026 · R01PROJECT SUMMARY: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia worldwide, significantly contributing to ischemic strokes, increased morbidity, and mortality. Despite its prevalence, AF pharmacotherapy remains limited by poor efficacy and severe side effects, particularly in female patients, who experience greater mortality and more severe…
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