Roadmap to Revitalizing Academic Cardiovascular Medicine: A Perspective From the Association of Professors of Cardiology (APC) Emerging Leaders Group

Academic cardiovascular medicine has driven transformative advances in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, contributing to substantial declines in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality over the past half century. These achievements have depended on a robust academic workforce integrating clinical care, research, education, and innovation. However, the sustainability of this workforce is increasingly threatened. Early-career academic cardiologists now enter practice amid rising clinical demands, widening compensation disparities, constrained federal research funding, prolonged training pathways, and escalating administrative burden. Concurrently, academic medical centers face financial pressures, often prioritizing short-term clinical revenue over long-term academic investment, disproportionately affecting early-career faculty and jeopardizing the future pipeline of academic leaders. In response to this challenge, the Association of Professors of Cardiology convened a group of emerging early-career academic faculty to identify core challenges facing early-career faculty and developed a roadmap to revitalize academic cardiovascular medicine. This Perspective outlines guiding principles, domains of action, and actionable strategies to help strengthen the academic cardiology workforce. Ensuring that a pipeline of early-career cardiologists who can pursue fulfilling, impactful, and sustainable academic careers that benefit patients and populations is mission central to the future of cardiovascular medicine.