Description
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the Adult Congenital Heart Association (ACHA) convened a Working Group meeting on June 23 and 24, 2014, in Bethesda, MD, to assess the current gaps in knowledge about adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) and to identify high-impact research topics for the field. The Working Group consisted of experts in ACHD, pediatric and adult cardiology, heart failure, electrophysiology, stem cell biology, genomics, cardiovascular surgery, patient advocacy, epidemiology, clinical trials, and registries. The working group supports Goal 1 of the NHLBI Strategic Plan, which is "to improve understanding of the molecular and physiological basis of health and disease, and to use that understanding to develop improved approaches to disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention."