American Heart Association
The American Heart Association (AHA) is a non-profit organization in the United States that funds cardiovascular medical research, educates consumers on healthy living and fosters appropriate cardiac care in an effort to reduce disability and deaths caused by cardiovascular disease and stroke. Originally formed in New York City in 1924 as the Association for the Prevention and Relief of Heart Disease, it is currently headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The American Heart Association is a national voluntary health agency.
Association of American Universities
The AAU was founded on February 28, 1900, by a group of 14 Doctor of Philosophy degree–granting universities in the United States to strengthen and standardize American doctoral programs. American universities—starting with the Johns Hopkins University in 1876—were adopting the research-intensive German model of higher education. Lack of standardization damaged European universities' opinions of their American counterparts, however, and many American students attended graduate school in Europe instead of staying in the US. The presidents of the Johns Hopkins University, the University of Chicago, Columbia University, Harvard University, and the University of California had sent a letter of invitation to nine other universities to meet at Chicago in February 1900 to promote and raise standards. Charles E. Elliot of Harvard University was elected the organization's first president, and Stanford University's David Starr Jordan was elected the organization's first chairman.