Tell us about yourself.

I’m Yi-Bang Cheng from Shanghai, an internal medicine resident of Ruijin Hospital. I received the medical degree from Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine and completed PhD in cardiovascular medicine.

What are your research interests?

My research interests have encompassed a range of topics in both blood pressure measurement and arterial stiffness.

What are you working on right now?

Recently, I proposed the outcome-driven thresholds for central systolic blood pressure, and explored the prognostic relevance of the cross-classification of central and brachial hypertension.

What do you hope to achieve in the field of hypertension over the next 5 years?

My aim for the next 5 years is to lead clinical trials targeting central blood pressure. Since the effect of various classes of antihypertensive drugs on central and brachial blood pressure may be different, patients with isolated central hypertension may have specific antihypertensive strategies to reduce cardiovascular risks.

What challenges have you faced in your career to date?

Being an internal medicine resident, it is always a challenge to balance clinical and research work. However, the closer you are to the patient, the clearer you are about what needs to be answered. Experience from clinical work may be helpful for clinical trials.

Which of your publications are you proudest of and why (please include paper reference)

As was mentioned above, we published the risk stratification by cross-classification of central and brachial systolic blood pressure in Hypertension based on the IDCARS dataset. This cross-classification indicated that isolated central hypertension was associated with high cardiovascular risk, and could be regarded as a kind of masked hypertension.
Reference: Cheng et al. Risk Stratification by Cross-Classification of Central and Brachial Systolic Blood Pressure. Hypertension. 2022;79(5):1101-1111.
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.121.18773

What is your favourite manuscript from a lab other than your own?

The team of Prof. Chen Chen-Huan published the first outcome-driven thresholds of central blood pressure (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0735109713025564). The report moved the field of central blood pressure measurement forward to clinical practice.

What are your passions outside of work?

Latin dance.