2010 Annual Fall Conference and Scientific Session of the American Heart Association Council for High Blood Pressure Research in Association With the Council on the Kidney in Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract

The American Heart Association (AHA) High Blood Pressure Research Conference is considered to be among the most important and prestigious medical meetings on hypertension in the world, designed as a scientific program that focuses on disseminating information about recent advances in hypertension research. This program provides an opportunity and platform for learning, interacting, and networking among scientists, clinicians, and allied health care workers. The 2009 meeting was an enormous success, with a record number of 749 registrants from more than 20 countries. The program committee and council chairs, Clinton Webb (high blood pressure research) and Jeff Sands (kidney in cardiovascular disease), are to be applauded. The council meeting was preceded by a 1-day workshop titled, “Systems Medicine Strategies in Hypertension: From Molecules to Patients,” and focused on state-of-the-art technologies and approaches to better understand molecular and physiological mechanisms of hypertension in experimental and clinical settings. The workshop, organized by Ernesto L. Schiffrin (McGill University), Thomas M. Coffman (Duke University), and Anna F. Dominiczak (University of Glasgow), attracted more than 250 registrants and was the largest ever at a Council for High Blood Pressure Research (CHBPR) meeting. World-renowned investigators led the workshop with presentations and discussions. The workshop concluded with a presentation given by Daniel Levy (Framingham, MA), who linked all of the topics of the workshop through his talk titled, “Genes, Molecules, Systems Biology, and Epidemiology: Bringing It Together Through Framingham.” This was a perfect foundation to start the official council meeting. The scientific program of the conference was abstract based and included more than 400 reviewed abstracts presented in oral and poster sessions. In addition, numerous named award lectures were given by the most outstanding investigators in the hypertension community. The objectives of the meeting were certainly met, and by the end of the 1.0-day workshop and 2.5-day conference, …