Cardiovascular disease (CVD) imposes a substantial mortality and cost burden.  In 2011 CVD was responsible for more deaths than any other disease group, and CVD remains the most expensive disease in Australia, costing approximately $5.9 billion in 2008 (with just over half of this hospitalisation costs). There is a strong social and economic imperative to reduce the impact of CVD in Australia, and worldwide. The Centre for Research Excellence in Cardiovascular Outcomes Improvement seeks to address the major issues that are relevant to understanding and improving the provision of cardiovascular prevention and management services and the uptake of evidence based strategies to reduce the impact of CVD at the individual and community level. The underlying strategy of the Centre is to support the development and conduct of comparative effectiveness and quality of outcomes research utilising established and emerging clinical outcome registries.  The key themes of research for the Centre will cross a range of key cardiac activities in the clinical areas of primary prevention, emergency care, interventional cardiology and cardiac surgery, and in the management of acute and chronic heart failure.