Isfahan Cardiovascular Research Center (ICRC) being approved by the Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MOHME) in 1993, became a World Health Organization (WHO) collaborating center for research and training in cardiovascular diseases (CVD) control, prevention and rehabilitation of cardiac patients in the Eastern Mediterranean Region since 2003, and was promoted to the Cardiovascular Research Institute (CRI) in 2011 by the MOHME. The main fields of research in CRI are in public health, clinical and basic sciences.
The superior role of CRI is the prevention and control of cardiovascular diseases in the Middle East, such that documents and reports provided by this institute are cited by international communities. This institute focuses its efforts on the use of available technology to conduct community-based and biomedical research and to help with transferring the results to useful and practical outcomes. It also considers helping academic and research centers and other health service providers in implementing programs for the prevention, control, and treatment of cardiovascular diseases and their related risk factors.
CRI research priorities are as follows: Prevention and control of CVDs and it's related risk factors; Institutionalizing and capacity building for interventions needed for prevention of non-communicable diseases specially CVD in primary health care system; Development of risk charts for CVD with co morbidities based on the results of cohort studies; Conducting studies on the modification of community lifestyle like nutritional behavior especially reduction of salt and fat intake; CVDs registries including Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS), Stroke, Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI), Congenital Heart Disease (CHD), Heart Failure (HF), Arterial Fibrillation (AF) registries; Monitoring and assessment of environmental risk factors associated with CVDs; Conducting studies on optimization of cardiac rehabilitation services and its institutionalization and integration in the health care system;
Conducting studies on medical and herbal therapies relating to CVDs; Conducting genetic and cellular/molecular studies relating to CVDs; Psychological aspects of cardiologic care (Psycho-cardiology); Developing national guidelines of hypertension, dyslipidemia and acute coronary syndrome.
CRI consists of 7 Research Centers namely, Isfahan Cardiovascular Research Center; Cardiac Rehabilitation Research Center; Hypertension Research Center; Heart Failure Research Center; Applied Physiology Research Center; Interventional Cardiology Research Center; Pediatric Cardiovascular Research Center.