The main activities of your LeadershipCommittee this past quarter have beenrelated to the fall conference (Sept.

15–19) in Atlanta. The Program Committeeunder the leadership of Clinton Webborganized a terrific program with a verytimely and important workshop. These weredescribed in the previous newsletter. By thetime you read this, the meeting will be over,but I hope that you attended the meeting andparticipated in the activities. If you were notable to attend this year, please make aspecial effort to join us in 2009 in Chicago.This year’s meeting had several newfeatures including the first presentation ofthe Donald Seldin lecture by Mark Knepperand the first presentation of the HarrietDustan lecture by Suzanne Oparil. TheSeldin Award is sponsored by the KidneyCouncil. The Dustan Award is sponsored bythe High Blood Pressure Research Councilwith the specific objective of highlightingour outstanding women scientists.Congratulations to all our award recipients.

In addition to planning the fall conference,Leadership Committee members have startedplans for the next hypertension summerschool to be held in 2009. The Chair of theorganizing committee is Ray Townsend(townsend@exchange.upenn.edu). Pleasefeel free to communicate with him to makesuggestions and volunteer to assist.

One of my main activities as Council Chairis to represent us before the AHA ScienceAdvisory and Coordinating Committee. Atour June 25 meeting several new initiativeswere approved. The InterdisciplinaryWorking Groups (IWG) were converted to

the same status as Councils, with the samerights and responsibilities as Councils. Theonly distinction is that the former IWGs willbe called Interdisciplinary Councils. Thisaction will affect our members who alsobelong to an IWG and it will be importantfor you to be sure and declare the HighBlood Pressure Research Council as yourprimary Council.

The international mentoring program continuesto grow and AHA will provide 10 travelgrants to mentees who commit to attendingScientific Sessions. An important aspect ofthis commitment is that some of you may beasked to serve as mentors to this program. Ifinterested in participating, please let me know.

The AHA Research Committee reported onthe development of its new strategic plan. Inaddition to the current programs focusedprimarily on Scientist Development Grantsand Established Investigator Grants, newprograms include Innovative ResearchGrants, Clinical Research Program andSummer Undergraduate ResearchFellowships. For spring, the ResearchCommittee funded 85 ScientistDevelopment Grants, eight Fellow toFaculty awards and 11 Clinical ResearchProgram awards. The payline for SDGs isabout 24 percent so junior facultyinvestigators should be encouraged to apply.

The Scientific Publishing Committee reportedon its new initiative to launch five (SIX?)new journals. Of the five new journalsplanned, two have already been launchedwith the remaining three to start in 2009.

The SACC action that will have the greatestimpact on our Council is the decision to

raise dues effective January 2009. This willbe linked with improved member benefitslike the AHA Learning Library. It wasemphasized by the Member Benefits TaskForce that our old dues structure wasoutdated and that the health of ourassociation depended on increased dues.Over the year, AHA has markedly increasedservices to its members and has launchedmany public education programs. I appeal toall our members to remain loyal to ourCouncil and renew your membership,preferably at the premium professionalcategory for 2009! In addition, please makespecial efforts to recruit new members to ourCouncil. Our target is to have 2,000 Councilmembers by 2010.

The report from the Advocacy CoordinatingCommittee emphasized the importance of

C o u n c i l o n

H i g h B l o o d P r e s s u r e R e s e a r c h

Message From the ChairL. Gabriel Navar, PhD, FAHA

Report From theTrainee CommitteeMarcela Herrera, PhD, FAHACo-Chair, Trainee Advocacy Committee

The Trainee Advocacy Committeehosted the annual workshop entitled“Grant Opportunities for Trainees at

the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute(NHLBI).” This workshop was open to alltrainees and was held during the fallmeeting. Dinner was provided. Immediatelyafter the workshop, we hosted the younginvestigators mixer.

NEW FOR THIS YEAR: This committee issponsoring Young Investigator TravelAwards to help defray costs to support theattendance of trainees to the fall meeting.All trainees are eligible and the winners areselected based on abstract scores.

The next Hypertension Summer School isscheduled for July 2009. The meeting willcover topics on the basis of hypertensionemphasizing the newest advances on thefield. Experts in the field will participateand the program will be outstanding.Trainees are strongly encouraged to attend.Further information will become availablethrough the AHA Web site.

Feel free to contact me with any questionsat mherrer1@hfhs.org.

Novartis Selection Committee met May 16, 2008 in New Orleans, La. to select the 2008 recipients. Picturedfrom left to right: Ken Bernstein, Suzanne Oparil, Ted Kurtz, Oscar Carretero, Ron White, Melanie Lagomichos,Allen Cowley, Alberto Nasjiletti, Marjorie Gatlin, Fred Luft, Gabriel Navar and Clinton Webb.

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Letter From the EditorNancy L. Kanagy, PhD, FAHA, EditorAs the summer ended, the members of our Council attended another excitingfall conference on Sept. 15–19 in Atlanta, in conjunction with the KidneyCouncil. In addition, many members of our Council are presenting theirresearch at Scientific Sessions in New Orleans in November. Below is a shortlist of research briefs from this quarter’s issues of Hypertension. Be sure tocheck out the important research published in our Council’s journal in yourlibrary or online at http://hyper.ahajournals.org

New ProfessionalEducation Center Web siteOn Sept. 1, 2008, the American HeartAssociation Professional EducationCenter launched a new and improvedWeb site! The site incorporates a newlook and feel and is designed to betterinform users about our current

educational offerings. Enhancementswere made to improve navigation,course search capabilities andregistering for an account. We’reexcited about this opportunity toprovide a greater user experience forour learners. Visit the ProfessionalEducation Center for the latestcontinuing education on cardiovasculardisease and stroke!

Report From the NominatingCommitteeRobert M. Carey, MD, MACP Chair, Nominating Committee

The Nominating Committee congratulates Dr. Rhian M. Touyz, who has been elected to theposition of Vice-Chair and Chair-Elect of the Council for High Blood Pressure Research.Rhian is an outstanding investigator and leader in hypertension research. She is professor

of medicine, and holds the Canada Research Chair in Hypertension, at the University ofOttawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Elected to the Leadership Committee as at-large memberswere Drs. Ronald Victor, Donna Wang and Mark Chappell. Dr. Victor is professor of medicineand Norman and Adurey Kaplan Chair of Hypertension at the University of TexasSouthwestern in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Wang is professor of medicine at Michigan State Universityin East Lansing, Mich. Dr. Chappell is professor in the Hypertension and Vascular DiseaseCenter at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston Salem, N.C. Also, Dr. JanDanser was elected to the Leadership Committee as international at-large member. Dr. Danseris professor of cardiovascular pharmacology at Erasmus University, Rotterdam, TheNetherlands.

Dr. George Bakris has been selected to serve as Chair of the Council’s Professionaland Public Education Committee, which is now combined with the PublicationsCommittee. Dr. Raymond Townsend will serve as Vice-Chair.

The Trainee Advocacy Committee will include the following trainees: Drs. MariaAntonia Garcia Espinosa, Romer Gonzalez-Villalobos, Radu Illescu, Huda Abdullah,Justin Grobe and Erika Boesen.

The Nominating Committee congratulates all of these individuals who will providevaluable service for our Council.

Opportunities to serve the Council for High Blood Pressure Research includemembership on the following committees: Trainee Advocacy, Professional and PublicEducation, Annual Fall Conference, Novartis Award Selection, Scientific SessionsProgram, Nominating, Awards and Leadership. If you are interested in serving, pleasecontact Dr. L. Gabriel Navar, the incoming Nominating Committee Chair.

maintaining a strong advocacy program anddescribed our advocacy efforts. Even duringthese times of financial constraints, it is veryimportant to maintain a strong advocacyprogram and continue to remind our legisla-tors of the importance of increased fundingfor biomedical research. As noted by therecent actions of Congress to increase fundingfor NIH in spite of record budget deficits,our collective message is getting through,but we must remain vigilant. Our Council isvery fortunate to have J.R. Haywood as ourAdvocacy Committee representative. He hasworked very hard to develop a strongadvocacy program. Please help with theadvocacy effort by contacting J.R.

Remember that Scientific Sessions will beheld in New Orleans Nov. 8–12, 2008.Howard Pratt, our representative to theScientific Sessions Program Committee,reported on our increased involvement inSessions, including more than eight oral andposter sessions and a Sunday morningsession on diagnosis, evaluation andmanagement of resistant hypertension.Several cardiovascular seminars relating tohypertension will be held and a lecture willbe presented by Mario Capecchi, co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Prize inPhysiology and Medicine. If you have notdone so yet, please make plans to attendScientific Session. Please send me an e-mail(navar@tulane.edu) if you will be attendingsince the Council may hold an informalsocial during the week.

Finally, I would like to say farewell to ourmembers as this will be my last newsletteras Council Chair. The next newsletter willcome out after our fall meeting where wemake the transition. It has been a wonderfuland fulfilling experience to serve as yourChair. I have had the good fortune of havingexcellent staff support from AHA and hard-working members of the LeadershipCommittee who made my job much easier.A special note of thanks to Bob Carey forhis mentorship as I struggled to learn aboutall the duties of the Chair. During these lasttwo years, we have made considerableprogress in program activities andmembership, but there is still much to do. Iam very comfortable in knowing that I leaveyou in the hands of Clinton Webb who willbecome Council Chair and Rhian Touyzwho will become the Vice Chair of theCouncil and Chair of the ProgramCommittee for the 2009 Fall Conference. Iask you to give them your full support andto work with all the members of theleadership committee to make our councileven more responsive to the needs of ourmembers. We are here to serve you.

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RESEARCHBRIEFSJuly 2008

This study reported that weight lossindependent of changes in activityimproves both peripheral conduit arteryand resistance vessel endothelium-dependent dilation, with the lattermediated by increases in NObioavailability. The results were similarbetween young and older adults.(Weight Loss Alone Improves Conduitand Resistance Artery EndothelialFunction in Young and OlderOverweight/Obese Adults. Gary L.Pierce, Stacy D. Beske, Brooke R.Lawson, Kara L. Southall, Francoise J.Benay, Anthony J. Donato, and DouglasR. Seals. Hypertension.2008;52:72–79.)

Attenuation of Nox4 and itsdownstream signaling associate withreduced myofibroblast migration and,thus, may be expected to decreaseneointimal hyperplasia and restenosisafter balloon angioplasty. (Nox4Oxidase Overexpression SpecificallyDecreases Endogenous Nox4 mRNAand Inhibits Angiotensin II–InducedAdventitial Myofibroblast Migration.Mounir J. Haurani, M. EugeniaCifuentes, Alexander D. Shepard, andPatrick J. Pagano. Hypertension.2008;52:143–149.)

August 2008

Serotonin in cardiac hypertrophy:This study in mice found that blockingthe 5-HT2B receptor prevented cardiachypertrophy independent of the causeand without affecting hemodynamics,introducing a new potential target fortreating cardiac hypertrophy. (Serotonin5-HT2B Receptor Blockade PreventsReactive Oxygen Species–InducedCardiac Hypertrophy in Mice. LaurentMonassier, Marc-André Laplante,Fabrice Jaffré, Pascal Bousquet, LucMaroteaux, and Jacques de Champlain.Hypertension. 2008;52:301–307.)

Aldosterone contributes tocardiovascular risk independent ofblood pressure effects: Thismulticenter, international clinical trial ofeplerenone suggests that in myocardialinfarction patients, aldosterone has ashort-term effect contributing to acutecardiac death and a long-term effectworsening the CV system especially ifthey were previously hypertensive.(History of Hypertension andEplerenone in Patients With AcuteMyocardial Infarction Complicated byHeart Failure. Bertram Pitt, Ali Ahmed,Thomas E. Love, Henry Krum, JoseNicolau, José S. Cardoso, AlexanderParkhomenko, Michael Aschermann,Ramon Corbalán, Henry Solomon,Harry Shi, and Faiez Zannad.Hypertension. 2008;52:271–278.)

September 2008

PKC and caveolin regulate KATPsignaling in vascular smooth muscle:A research group from Harbin MedicalUniversity in Heilongjiang, China ledby Keli Hu present compelling evidencethat agonist activation of PKC-e leadsto internalization of KATP throughinteractions with caveolin-1 anddynamin. (Protein Kinase C- InducesCaveolin-Dependent Internalization ofVascular Adenosine 5'-Triphosphate–Sensitive K+ Channels. Jundong Jiao,Vivek Garg, Baofeng Yang, Terry S.Elton, and Keli Hu. Hypertension.2008;52:499–506.)

Combining renin inhibitor and anARB protects endothelial function: Astudy in hypercholesterolemic rabbitsfound that adding a renin inhibitor to anARB increased NO production, levelsof BH4, and decreased plaqueformation more than either treatmentalone. (Olmesartan PreventsCardiovascular Injury and HepaticSteatosis in Obesity and Diabetes,Accompanied by Apoptosis SignalRegulating Kinase-1 Inhibition. EiichiroYamamoto, Yi-Fei Dong, KeiichiroKataoka, Takuro Yamashita, YoshikoTokutomi, Shinji Matsuba, HidenoriIchijo, Hisao Ogawa, and Shokei Kim-Mitsuyama. Hypertension.2008;52:573–580.)

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