Winners of innovative cardiovascular research grant programme announced

The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) has announced five winners of the competitive research programme ‘Grants for Medical Research Innovation’, exclusively supported by an independent grant from Boehringer Ingelheim.

The grants are awarded to research projects that will address areas of unmet medical need in thromboembolic disease.

Commenting on the winners, Professor Francesco Cosentino, from Karolinska, Stockholm, the chairperson of the programme’s Scientific Committee, said: “We were astounded at the quantity and quality of the proposals submitted. The judges had an extremely difficult task, even selecting five winners instead of four as originally planned. With one in four people dying as a result of thromboembolic disease, innovative research in this field is urgently needed. We look forward to supporting the winners to advance knowledge in this important area.”

The five winners were selected from 554 entry submissions by leading researchers and institutes worldwide and will provide important insights into cardiovascular care.

The grant winners and awardees are:

• David-Alexandre Trégouët, PhD, from the Pierre & Marie Curie Medical School, Paris, France
• Timo Heidt, MD, from Heart Center Freiburg University, Freiburg, Germany
• José Manuel Soria Fernandez, PhD, from Institute of Biomedical Research – Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau (IIB-Sant Pau), Barcelona, Spain
• Christina Christersson, MD, PhD, from Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
• Michael Joner, MD, from CVPath Institute in Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA, and Deutsches Herzzentrum München, Munich, Germany

According to ESC President, Professor Fausto Pinto, “The ESC has a major commitment to support cardiovascular research. These grants supported by Boehringer Ingelheim are an excellent example of transparent partnership between industry and the scientific world. Supporting this research is helping peoples’ lives.”

“As a company firmly grounded in research, we believe that it is very important to support scientific initiatives. Therefore we are grateful to be able to support the ESC and the grant recipients and look forward to seeing the outcomes in the near future. We trust that the results of the grant programme will drive innovation in cardiovascular science.” said Professor Jörg Kreuzer, Vice President Medicine, Therapeutic Area Cardiovascular, Boehringer Ingelheim.

Results of the projects are expected to be presented at the 2017 ESC Congress.