In an effort to reduce cardiovascular related diseases, which continue to be one of America's leading causes of death, Alphabet Inc's Google Life Science Unit and American Heart Association (AHA) team up for "1 Team 1 Vision".
The $50 million joint project is dedicated to understand, determine and prevent causes of heart disease. According to AHA, there are 17.5 million cardiovascular deaths each year, with coronary heart disease at the top rank at 7 million deaths.
The announcement of this collaboration took place on Sunday during AHA's annual scientific meeting. Google Life Sciences Chief Executive Andy Conrad and AHA Chief Executive Nancy Brown committed to funding an equal $25 million each for this project.
The project will form a single team of researchers comprising of specialists from various fields - medicine, engineering, and technology, who will run the five year project.
Surprisingly, the team leader and its members are yet to be determined. According to Conrad, the selection process started with an announcement that the jobs exist. He hopes to receive proposals from various interested persons, with the best the idea deemed to be the victor. Conrad also stressed out the importance of a brilliant idea with creative vision.
Both leaders acknowledged that creating such a worthwhile project will not be easy. There should be combined multidisciplinary efforts backed by long term funding. However, these leaders adhere to revolutionizing conventional research. Conrad said that the only thing he can promise is to try harder and do something bigger.
The Joint Leadership Group, set in early 2016, will determine the leader who is tasked to put up the whole team of specialists from the medical, engineering and technological fields. Chief Science Officer of Google Life Sciences, Jessica Mega said that while this is an AHA-Google Life Science collaboration, their main objective is to support the chosen team leader.
Working on a multi-million budget, AHA claims that is by far their heavily funded collaborative project in its 91-year history.
In his speech, Conrad mentioned that the results of this collaborative effort may identify people who are more vulnerable and at risk even before it happens.
American Heart Association, founded in 1924, is America's oldest leading organization committed to fighting cardiovascular diseases and stroke.
Combining the strength of Google Life Science's technological advancements, officials said that this collaboration may jumpstart a research revolution that will change people's view of science and technology.
