Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The University of Chicago received a $642,477 Project Grant award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) under the Cardiovascular Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.837), effective June 15, 2026, with an ultimate completion date of May 31, 2031. This grant supports a Targeted Quality Improvement Trial designed to improve post-discharge venous thromboembolism (VTE) chemoprophylaxis adherence following abdominal and pelvic cancer surgery. The initiative addresses a critical clinical gap: approximately one-third of VTE complications—the most common preventable cause of mortality following major abdominal and pelvic cancer surgery—occur after patient discharge, yet fewer than 10% of patients currently receive prescribed post-discharge chemoprophylaxis despite multiple randomized trials and national guidelines supporting this intervention.

The project builds on the principal investigator's prior work with the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) and the Illiana Surgical Quality Improvement Collaborative (ISQIC), which previously demonstrated a 15% increase in post-discharge VTE chemoprophylaxis adherence through multi-component quality improvement approaches. The funded research will expand and systematically evaluate implementation strategies to improve guideline adoption across hospitals and patient populations, with the goal of reducing post-discharge VTE complications and associated clinical deterioration in cancer surgery patients.