Transform HF
Digital Innovation for Heart Failure CareTRANSFORM HF aims to change the lived experience of heart failure through enabling collaborative, patient-driven, and technology-powered care. Uniting an interdisciplinary team of engineers, clinicians, health scientists, data scientists, public health experts, Indigenous partners, and people with lived experience, we co-design digital health solutions that are equitable and effective in real-world settings.
Our Grand Challenge
Heart failure is a growing health concern both in Canada and around the world. Currently, about 750,000 Canadians are living with heart failure, and more than 64 million people are affected globally. The numbers are still rising, especially in low- and middle-income countries where access to care can be limited. Heart failure is also a leading driver of hospital use, long-term care needs, and premature mortality, with impacts that extend beyond individual patients to families, communities, and health systems.
That’s why we urgently need new ways to deliver care that are effective, fair, and available to everyone who needs them. Tackling this growing challenge demands big ideas, collaboration, and innovation across many fields.
100,000
New cases are diagnosed each year
750,000
Canadians are living with heart failure
70,000
Canadians hospitalized per year
7
Days in hospital on average per visit
FUNDING OPPORTUNITY
2026 Undergrad Summer Research Program
Our USRP offers undergrads the opportunity to work with leading U of T researchers tackling inequities in heart failure care. Students contribute to cutting-edge research in digital health, wearable technologies, and patient-centred models of care—while gaining mentorship, training, and hands-on research experience.
Awards provide up to $8,000 for a 16-week summer placement.
Up to two awards are reserved for Indigenous students.
Deadline: March 1, 2026.
FUNDING OPPORTUNITY
2026 Collaboration Starter Grants
TRANSFORM HF is offering Collaboration Starter Grants to support our members in forming collaborations with new partners – either within or outside the TRANSFORM HF network – on early-stage projects that advance our mission. We welcome applications that are innovative, responsible, community-centered, interdisciplinary, and translational.
Three categories of supports are available:
Grants up to $10K for proposal development meetings, collaborative project activities, and patient or Knowledge Keeper compensation.
Grants up to $10K for preliminary project research and data collection.
Grants up to $10K for research proposal writing and editing.
Apply by February 1st, 2026.
NEWS
Supporting a Seamless Pediatric-Adult Care Transition
Pediatric heart disease patients often face challenges as they move from youth to adult care. TRANSFORM HF member Dr. Sahr Wali and youth patient champion Amelia Mahlenbrei Watford are working to change that.
The pair has been awarded a Pride in Patient Engagement in Research (PiPER) program grant to advance this work, with a focus on Chameleon – the team’s mobile phone-based educational care companion. The goal? To empower youth, improve care continuity, and make transitions smoother and more successful.
Acknowledgement of Territory
We acknowledge the traditional territories of the Mississauga of the New Credit First Nation, Anishnawbe, Wendat, Huron, and Haudenosaunee Indigenous Peoples on which our partner institutions stand.
The territory was the subject of the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement between the Iroquois Confederacy and Confederacy of the Ojibwe and allied nations to peaceably share and care for the resources around the Great Lakes. We would also like to pay our respects to all our ancestors and to our present Elders.