Fighting Heart Disease and Stroke

F ighting heart disease and stroke ” has long been the mission as well as the slogan of the American Heart Association. Today, with the dramatic and parallel breakthroughs that have advanced treatment of both diseases, our mission and slogan have never been more true.To be candid, of course, for many years physicians in our own organization and elsewhere have seemed almost disinterested in stroke—believing perhaps that they should devote their energies to conditions more susceptible to therapy. Many have also not recognized the extent to which the AHA has been committed to this disease: Stroke is the leading medical journal in the field, the eighth most-cited publication in the cardiovascular arena, and the most prominent journal devoted entirely to stroke. The AHA is the second largest supporter of research related to stroke, surpassed only by the National Institutes of Health. We devote millions of dollars to this research every year and have nearly tripled the number of grants being reviewed by the stroke study group in the last several years. We also host the largest annual scientific gathering devoted to stroke: our 23rd Annual Conference on Stroke and Cerebral Circulation attracted over 1500 …