To celebrate American Heart Month, here are five medical innovations that have improved cardiac care and provided hope for patients who had few options.

Training current and future doctors. Driving medical breakthroughs through research. Advancing expert patient care. Cultivating community collaborations. Through these four pillars, academic medicine touches the lives of Americans every day, transforming the health care system in the United States — and creating a healthier future for all.

Academic medical centers are pillars in their communities, with their reach extending far beyond where they’re located. In fact, these centers — which include over 150 accredited medical schools and approximately 400 teaching hospitals and health systems nationwide — serve as regional health care hubs, drawing in patients from surrounding regions and states.

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated academic medicine’s potential to save lives. No other health care system was able to match the infrastructure, specialties, and expertise necessary to handle complex patient care issues during this critical time. And, in general, patients treated at major teaching hospitals have up to 20% higher odds of survival for all conditions.

The U.S. will see a shortage of up to 124,000 physicians by 2032. Academic medicine’s over 150 medical schools and approximately 400 teaching hospitals and health systems are addressing this gap and training the next generation to meet the future.

Driven by the success of the mRNA vaccines that have proved so potent against COVID-19, scientists working at academic medical centers are exploring the potential for this new and flexible technology to be used in novel ways for other infections and possibly for the treatment of difficult-to-manage conditions like cancer.