Opportunities and challenges in heart rhythm research: Rationale and development of an electrophysiology collaboratory

Abstract

There are many challenges in the current landscape of electrophysiology (EP) clinical and translational research, including increasing costs and complexity, competing demands, regulatory requirements, and challenges with study implementation. This review seeks to broadly discuss the state of EP research, including challenges and opportunities. Included here are results from a Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) Research Committee member survey detailing HRS members' perspectives regarding both barriers to clinical and translational research and opportunities to address these challenges. We also provide stakeholder perspectives on barriers and opportunities for future EP research, including input from representatives of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, industry, and research funding institutions that participated in a Research Collaboratory Summit convened by HRS. This review further summarizes the experiences of the heart failure and heart valve communities and how they have approached similar challenges in their own fields. We then explore potential solutions, including various models of research ecosystems designed to identify research challenges and to coordinate ways to address them in a collaborative fashion in order to optimize innovation, increase efficiency of evidence generation, and advance the development of new therapeutic products. The objectives of the proposed collaborative cardiac EP research community are to encourage and support scientific discourse, research efficiency, and evidence generation by exploring collaborative and equitable solutions in which stakeholders within the EP community can interact to address knowledge gaps, innovate, and advance new therapies.

Keywords: Collaborative community; Collaboratory; Electrophysiology; Research opportunities.