Lifestyle, environmental and genetic factors that collide from the prenatal period and onward throughout life have made heart, lung and blood vessel diseases the world's number one killers. The Institute for Heart + Lung Health (IHLH) was created to help reverse this ominous global trend. We have eliminated the barriers that generally separate heart and lung research and discovery, and have built an agile, talented team to find new preventive and monitoring approaches and more beneficial treatments to improve lives. Based upon the former UBC Centre for Lung Health and Providence Heart + Lung Institute, the IHLH embraces heart and lung researchers, clinical innovators, and trainees from across British Columbia, as well as collaborators around the world. In spanning organizational, disciplinary, sectoral, and geographical boundaries and working from molecules through to populations, we bring greater synergy and enjoyment, a wide range of efficiencies, and a higher plane of performance and impact in furthering heart and lung health and in addressing the global burdens of heart and lung diseases.