About Stanford CVI’s Seed Grant Program

The Stanford Cardiovascular Institute's mission is to drive new research and clinical advancements to improve cardiovascular health. We foster collaboration and the exchange of ideas among students, fellows, faculty, and scientists.

In support of this mission, CVI offers Seed Awards to encourage innovative research. We strongly encourage proposals that emphasize interdisciplinary collaborations and address critical challenges in cardiovascular care, including efforts to improve health outcomes and reduce disparities.


Application Process

Stanford CVI issues an annual Call for Proposals each year in Summer. All Stanford Faculty with PI eligibility and Instructors may apply. The call for proposals for 2025 is now open, with submissions due mid-August 2025! Post-doctoral fellows and clinical trainees must identify a faculty mentor and apply as a Co-I. Recipients will be notified in September.
 

Reporting Requirements

CVI Administration will be requesting a brief annual check-in, for 3 years after the award end date, to ask about any abstracts, presentations, publications, or grants resulting from the research supported by this award. In addition, all seed awardees must present their funded research at the annual Cardiovascular Research Symposium, typically held every August.


Our Impact

Our impact through CVI Seed Grants has driven early-stage research leading to breakthroughs in cardiovascular health. By fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, we have brought together diverse expertise to develop more effective solutions. Our commitment to health equity ensures support for research addressing disparities in care and better serving minority patients. Additionally, we empower emerging researchers with the resources needed to advance their careers and secure larger funding, fueling the next generation of innovation in cardiovascular medicine.

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54.5%

Survey respondents reported receiving additional funding

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147

Seed Grants Awarded in the past 18 years

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Seed Grant Awardees

2024

Multiomic Integration to Decode Biological Aging in Single Ventricle Heart Disease

Sushma Reddy, PhD (PI)

Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Mapping the embryonic origin of the heart valves across life

Sarah Bowling, PhD (PI)

Assistant Professor, Department of Biology

Automated Body Composition Analysis for Cardiac Risk Prediction in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Evan Zucker, MD (PI)

Associate Professor of Radiology (Pediatric Radiology)




Decoding Genome Architecture and Complex Structural Variations in Congenital Heart Disease

Ioannis Karakikes, PhD  (PI)

Associate Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery

Machine Learning Guided Subphenotyping of Thoracic Aortic Aneurysms to Identify Precision Medicine Targets for Diagnosing and Predicting Aneurysm Wall Breakdown

Michael Fischbein, MD, PhD (PI)

Thelma and Henry Doelger Professor of Cardiovascular Surgery

Prospective evaluation of automated vessel-specific coronary calcium and aortic valve calcification scoring for opportunistic cardiovascular screening in lung cancer screening

Joseph Shrager, MD (PI)

Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery