Tuskegee Awarded Nation of Lifesaver™ Grant from the American Heart Association
Contact: Crystal Drake, Office of Strategic Communications
Tuskegee University has been awarded a Nation of Lifesaver™ grant from the American Heart Association (AHA), to support lifesaving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training on campus for faculty, staff, students, and expand positive community health impact for members of the wider Tuskegee, Alabama community.
According to the AHA, each year, more than 350,000 cardiac arrests occur outside hospital settings nationwide. Research shows that prompt CPR can double or even triple a person’s chance of survival, making widespread training a critical public health priority.
To help address this urgent need, the American Heart Association has awarded 32 Nation of Lifesaver™ grants to high school and college Heart Clubs across 20 states and the District of Columbia, including Tuskegee. The grant includes funding for two CPR in Schools Kits—complete with training manikins and instructional materials—along with $500 in program support to facilitate campus-based CPR training.
“As always, Mother Tuskegee continues to extend her hand to the entire Tuskegee community to care for the people who call Tuskegee home,” said Dr. Mark A. Brown, president and CEO. “Access to healthcare, including live saving skills needed in emergencies, should not be dependent on zip codes and this training will empower people to meet immediate needs and radically change outcomes. That is the Tuskegee Way.”
CPR training – the Hands-Only CPR method approved by the AHA – will begin in May, starting with Residential Hall Assistants and summer program directors, key personnel who are often first responders during campus emergencies. The university is grateful to longtime partner Tuskegee Area Health Education Center (TAHEC) for facilitating this training efforts.
Tuskegee University’s initiative is led by Dr. Chastity Bradford, Assistant Provost of Academic Programs and Student Matters and Associate Professor of Biology. For more than 20 years, Dr. Bradford has been researching cardiovascular disease and engaging with communities and brings both scientific expertise and deeply personal motivation to her work.
Growing up with parents who were deeply service-oriented profoundly shaped her commitment to community engagement. Inspired early by her mother, a nurse who embodied compassion in patient care and her own HBCU experience, Dr. Bradford initially considered a traditional medical career. However, a medical research opportunity at Loyola University Chicago School of Medicine proved transformative.
“That experience revealed my passion for research and led me to my purpose as a researcher, educator, and community advocate,” Dr. Bradford said. “When I began this journey, I realized there weren’t many people in this field that looked like me. Now, I understand that our differences shape our research questions and community engagement strategies, strengthening the relevance and impact of our work. I want to ensure we can meet our own needs.”
To maximize the impact of the Nation of Lifesaver grant, Tuskegee University will:
- Establish and launch a Campus Heart Club with student leadership supported by faculty and staff
- Host additional CPR training for summer program directors and residential hall assistants, ensuring that frontline campus leaders are equipped to respond quickly in emergencies
- Offer ongoing Hands‑Only CPR training sessions for students, faculty, and staff throughout the academic year
Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death globally, making prevention, education, and rapid response essential components of public health. For people in the Black Belt, and so many rural communities, when a cardiac health issue occurs, a hospital is too far away.
AHA data shows that nine out of ten people who experience cardiac arrest outside of a hospital do not survive, often because immediate CPR is not administered more than half the time.
This February, the Office of the Provost, Human Resources, SONAH, and TAHECEHEC hosted a lunch and learn, supported by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama. At the event a member of the community shared that she was a heart attack survivor and that when it happened there was no one present to do CPR before, thankfully, an ambulance did arrive at her home in Tuskegee after she was able to call a friend.
She heard the EMT say, “This is serious, put an aspirin under her tongue, and start an IV.”
While the attendee did survive and was able to get treatment, the reality of what could have happened stays close to Dr. Bradford. “Our faculty, staff, students and neighbors need this training urgently.”
Beyond emergency preparedness, Dr. Bradford hopes that another important outcome of this effort will be the visibility it provides to students and prospective students, of the rich resource of talented researchers, nutritionists, and nurses who are accessible mentors and educators. She is deeply committed to ensuring that the next generation sees pathways into science, health, and research.
The proposal and the idea of starting a “Heart Club” came from Valentyne Thomas, a 2025 Tuskegee University graduate who is currently at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in the Development Biology Ph.D. program. She approached Dr. Bradford with the idea last spring as was further developed in collaboration with Jossy Onuoha who is working toward a Master of Science in Biology. All of this reflects a shared belief that students ultimately become what they see—therefore, we must intentionally model the behaviors and values we hope they will carry forward.
“I want to bring another generation along,” she said, referencing a guiding principle often shared by Dr. Brown: ‘We are the help we need, and we are enough.’”
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