The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association Quality of Care and Outcomes Research (QCOR) 2018 Scientific Sessions was recently held in Arlington, VA, from April 6 to 7. The 2-day conference featured >50 oral presentations and 170 poster presentations across an array of topics, including the use of big data science in clinical practice, the shifting policy landscape in cardiovascular care, and the expanding role of social media in science. One key theme throughout the conference was the future of cardiovascular outcomes research, which was highlighted by the 2018 QCOR Outstanding Achievement Award recipient and keynote speaker Eric D. Peterson, MD, MPH. Dr Peterson reflected on the progress of cardiovascular outcomes research as a field and the QCOR community in general. What was once a small group of geeks running simple regression models on manually chart-reviewed data has grown into a much larger group of wonks applying machine learning techniques to hundreds of thousands of electronic medical records, he reflected. He also forecasted the future of cardiovascular outcomes research, which included the potential of big data science to improve outcomes, the importance of fostering partnerships with patients who actively participate in research, and the development and use of living clinical registries. Above all, he stressed the importance of mentorship and investing in the future generation of cardiovascular outcomes researchers. Within the context of this theme, we offer several directions of cardiovascular outcomes research that were presented at QCOR 2018 Scientific Sessions. In addition, we present updates on the current and future state of Get With The Guidelines (GWTG) registries and highlight the career development opportunities that QCOR 2018 provided to young investigators. ### Translating Big Data to Clinical Practice The opening plenary session of QCOR 2018 highlighted opportunities that big data science offers, including machine learning, artificial intelligence, and natural language processing. In addition, the challenges to implementing …