Founded in 1924 by six cardiologists, the American Heart Association (AHA) is the United States' oldest and largest voluntary organisation dedicated to combating heart disease and stroke. It employs over 3,300 staff and draws on a base of more than 35 million volunteers and supporters across the country.
The AHA operates across several interconnected areas: funding cardiovascular and cerebrovascular research, delivering public health education, running CPR training programmes, and driving quality-of-care improvements for conditions such as hypertension. It is the largest non-governmental funder of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular research in the United States after the federal government, having invested more than $6 billion in research to date. Its CPR training programmes reach approximately 22 million people each year, and its high blood pressure quality-of-care initiatives benefit more than 19 million patients.
The organisation attributes a significant share of the decline in cardiovascular disease mortality since its founding to its research investments and public education efforts. Its work spans primary prevention, clinical quality improvement, professional training, and grantmaking to academic and medical institutions.
While headquartered in the United States, the AHA's research funding and educational initiatives extend beyond U.S. borders. Its core functions - research, education, and training - are carried out through a combination of employed professionals and a large volunteer infrastructure, making it one of the more operationally distinctive organisations in the public health space.
