Team Science: American Heart Association's Hypertension Strategically Focused Research Network Experience. Hypertension 2021 Jun;77(6):1857-1866
Date
05/04/2021Pubmed ID
33934625Pubmed Central ID
PMC8986150DOI
10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.120.16296Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85105820455 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 1 CitationAbstract
In 2015, the American Heart Association awarded 4-year funding for a Strategically Focused Research Network focused on hypertension composed of 4 Centers: Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Medical College of Wisconsin, University of Alabama at Birmingham, and University of Iowa. Each center proposed 3 integrated (basic, clinical, and population science) projects around a single area of focus relevant to hypertension. Along with scientific progress, the American Heart Association put a significant emphasis on training of next-generation hypertension researchers by sponsoring 3 postdoctoral fellows per center over 4 years. With the center projects being spread across the continuum of basic, clinical, and population sciences, postdoctoral fellows were expected to garner experience in various types of research methodologies. The American Heart Association also provided a number of leadership development opportunities for fellows and investigators in these centers. In addition, collaboration was highly encouraged among the centers (both within and outside the network) with the American Heart Association providing multiple opportunities for meeting and expanding associations. The area of focus for the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Center was hypertension and target organ damage in children utilizing ambulatory blood pressure measurements. The Medical College of Wisconsin Center focused on epigenetic modifications and their role in pathogenesis of hypertension using human and animal studies. The University of Alabama at Birmingham Center's areas of research were diurnal blood pressure patterns and clock genes. The University of Iowa Center evaluated copeptin as a possible early biomarker for preeclampsia and vascular endothelial function during pregnancy. In this review, challenges faced and successes achieved by the investigators of each of the centers are presented.
Author List
Santillan MK, Becker RC, Calhoun DA, Cowley AW, Flynn JT, Grobe JL, Kotchen TA, Lackland DT, Leslie KK, Liang M, Mattson DL, Meyers KE, Mitsnefes MM, Muntner PM, Pierce GL, Pollock JS, Sigmund CD, Thomas SJ, Urbina EM, Kidambi SAuthors
Justin L. Grobe PhD Professor in the Physiology department at Medical College of WisconsinSrividya Kidambi MD Sr Medical Director, Chief, Professor in the Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Curt Sigmund PhD Chair, Professor in the Physiology department at Medical College of Wisconsin
MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
American Heart AssociationHumans
Hypertension
Interdisciplinary Research
United States
