The NHLBI SMARTT Program: A Novel Approach to Facilitate Translational Research for Heart, Lung and Blood Diseases.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), one of the 27 Institutes/Centers within the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has a strong interest in promoting translational research. This interest can be traced to its mission statement, which reads in part: “The NHLBI stimulates basic discoveries about the causes of disease, enables the translation of basic discoveries into clinical practice, fosters training and mentoring of emerging scientists and physicians, and communicates research advances to the public.” (www.nhlbi.gov/about/org/mission). Each year the NHLBI invests over $3 billion to support research, training and education programs to promote the prevention and treatment of heart, lung, and blood diseases and sleep disorders. More than two-thirds of this investment is allocated to investigator-initiated research spanning the continuum from discovery through preclinical and clinical studies.