WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Carlos M. Ferrario, M.D., director of the Hypertension & Vascular Research Center at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, will deliver the 2008 R.D. Wright Lecture at the Australian High Blood Pressure Research Council’s 30th annual scientific meeting Dec. 3-5 at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, Melbourne, Australia.
The lectureship is the highest honor bestowed by the council and has been awarded to leading international scientists and physicians since 1979.
Ferrario, professor of surgical sciences and physiology and pharmacology, is the Dewitt Cordell Professor of Surgical Research at Wake Forest Baptist. He was selected for the honor for his outstanding achievements in cardiovascular research, notably his breakthrough discoveries concerning the renin-angiotensin system and the use of novel antihypertensive medications for the prevention of heart attacks and strokes.
An internationally recognized center for the investigation of vascular disease and hypertension, the Hypertension & Vascular Research Center provides comprehensive care for hypertension and vascular disease, a mobile blood pressure clinic, early screening and management of peripheral artery disease.
The center’s clinical efforts have contributed to the introduction of novel treatments associated with reducing the risk of strokes, reversing of cardiac hypertrophy (enlarged heart), and slowing the progression of diabetes nephropathy (kidney disease). Its faculty have made major contributions to the understanding of hypertension mechanisms and the use of angiotensin receptor blockers in the management of cardiovascular disease, prevention of diabetes and restoration of sexual function.
Since it was established at Wake Forest, the Hypertension and Vascular Disease Center has raised more than $23 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association. In addition, more than $3 million in grants have been awarded by pharmaceutical companies. The center has been awarded grant revenues totaling $4.7 million this academic year.
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