Around the world, cardiovascular disease, abbreviated CVD, is the leading cause of death and disability. More than one billion people suffer from CVD, and that number continues to climb.
Recognizing that the disease transcends national borders, France’s Fondation Leducq began in 1999 to award competitive grants to CVD researchers who collaborate with other organizations in the U.S. and Europe. The foundation recently awarded $6 million to the Transatlantic Network of Excellence on Atherothrombosis Research, headed by Brigham and Women’s Peter Libby, MD, chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, and Paul Ridker, MD, MPH, director of the BWH Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention. The network combines the knowledge of researchers in Boston, San Francisco, Sweden, Belgium and France, and pools their resources, such as human tissue banks.
Atherothrombosis occurs when a blood clot forms on fatty deposits in a blood vessel’s wall. The clot can grow until it completely blocks the vessel or until it breaks free and lodges in another vessel, causing heart attack or stroke. Complex interactions between plaques, blood and coagulation factors, which scientists don’t fully understand, cause the clot to form.
“The multidisciplinary, international alliance will foster new discoveries related to the pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of atherothrombosis, and it will jumpstart our ability to wage war on this scourge,” says Libby. “It will also amplify the impact of BWH research worldwide.”
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