Preventive Medication
Participants carry a small supply of low-dose aspirin and/or a beta-blocker, ready for use when a trigger occurs.
Support Triggered Acute Risk Prevention (TARP)
Sudden heart attacks and strokes affect thousands of Australians each year. Your support can help bring practical, real-time prevention tools from research to reality.
Our goal
$7,700,000
Raised
$100
To go
$7,699,900
Preventing heart attacks and strokes before they happen
Heart attack and stroke remain among the leading causes of death worldwide, often striking suddenly and without warning. Yet many cardiovascular events are triggered by identifiable short-term factors such as emotional stress, illness, or intense physical exertion. Emerging research shows these triggers can dramatically increase the risk of a cardiac event in the minutes or hours that follow.
Triggered Acute Risk Prevention (TARP) is a pioneering research initiative that translates this knowledge into practical prevention. The program empowers people to recognise these moments of heightened risk and take simple protective actions that may reduce the likelihood of a heart attack or stroke. By combining simple medications with digital guidance, TARP gives individuals practical tools to manage acute risk in real time.
Philanthropic support can help advance this research and bring innovative prevention strategies to people at risk – helping stop heart attacks and strokes before they occur.
“Heart attacks and stroke are often seen as sudden and unavoidable. Our research shows they don’t have to be.”
– Professor Geoffrey Tofler, Staff Specialist in Cardiology, Royal North Shore Hospital
The overlooked triggers behind heart attacks and strokes
Every 9 minutes in Australia
someone is hospitalised with a heart attack.
More than 100,000 Australians each year
experience a heart attack or stroke.
Up to 50% of cardiac events
may be linked to short-term triggers such as emotional stress, heavy meals or respiratory infection.
While traditional prevention focuses on long-term risk factors like cholesterol and blood pressure, many heart attacks and strokes still occur suddenly – even among people managing their long-term cardiovascular risk. Research shows that acute triggers can dramatically increase the likelihood of a cardiac event in the hours immediately following exposure. Until now, this knowledge has rarely been applied in real-world prevention strategies.
Acute triggers are everyday events that temporarily place extra strain on the heart, creating moments of heightened risk. Common triggers include:
- Emotional stress or grief
- Intense anger or anxiety
- Heavy meals or alcohol
- Strenuous physical exertion
- Respiratory infection
- Environmental factors such as air pollution
For many people, these vulnerable moments pass without warning — and until now, there have been few practical ways to reduce risk when they occur.
Putting prevention into people’s hands
TARP provides a practical strategy that allows individuals to take preventive action when a trigger occurs. The approach combines medication, digital technology and clinical research to support prevention in real time.
The program includes three integrated components:
Digital Guidance
A smartphone app helps people recognise triggers, manage stress, reduce risk and understand when to seek urgent medical care.
Real-World Clinical Research
A global clinical trial involving 3,000 participants will evaluate whether this strategy can reduce heart attacks, stroke and sudden death.
“For the first time, we can give people the tools to protect themselves when their risk of heart attack suddenly rises.”
– Dr Philippa Heighes, Senior Research Nurse Coordinator, Cardiology, Royal North Shore Hospital
WHY YOUR SUPPORT MATTERS
Support TARP
Powering the world-first clinical trial establishing a scalable model for prevention.
TARP represents a new approach to prevent cardiovascular disease – moving beyond treatment to empower people to act during moments of heightened risk. By combining medication, behavioural science and digital technology, the program aims to prevent thousands of heart attacks and strokes before they occur.
The global clinical trial will generate critical evidence to guide clinicians and patients worldwide and establish a scalable model for preventing cardiovascular disease.
The research will deliver:
- A world-first clinical trial testing prevention during trigger events
- A global digital education platform for cardiac risk management
- Evidence-based guidance for clinicians and patients worldwide
- A scalable model for preventing cardiovascular disease
Funding overview: Total investment needed: $7.7M over 5 years
Together, we can help prevent the next heart attack or stroke.
Heart attacks and strokes continue to affect hundreds of thousands of people each year - often without warning. TARP offers a powerful opportunity to move cardiovascular care beyond treatment and into prevention.
Your support will help deliver the world-first large-scale clinical trial of TARP, empowering people to take action during high-risk moments and potentially preventing thousands of deaths.
Support TARP
Your support will help deliver the world-first large-scale clinical trial of TARP, empowering people to take action during high-risk moments and potentially preventing thousands of deaths.
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