ISH 2024 Award Winners

We are delighted to announce the winners of the ISH 2024 awards who were presented during the ISH Awards and Lectures Session on 21st September in Cartagena, Colombia.


ISH Franz Volhard Award and Lectureship for Outstanding Research

This Award and Lectureship was endowed by Farbwerke Hoechst in 1972 to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Franz Volhard. The award is made biennially to a person or persons who has initiated in the field of hypertension or in a related discipline, a concept which remains of current interest. The recipient shall be invited to deliver to the ISH a lecture on the topic for which the award is bestowed.

Recipient:

Stephen Harrap, Australia

The Awards Committee felt that Professor Harrap is highly deserving of the Award and Lectureship, in recognition of his lifetime of global contributions made in hypertension research at the highest level and his outstanding service to the ISH in particular during his time as President and whilst on Council. Professor Harrap is a pioneer in the field of hypertension genetics and one of the few people in the world whose work has spanned the spectrum of both experimental and clinical genetics. Over the last 25 years he has made many seminal contributions to the field from his mapping and characterization of loci that affect blood pressure and related traits, to his world-leading work in identifying genetic variants that affect risk of hypertension in humans. Professor Harrap’s discoveries have laid the foundation for an improved understanding of the genetic basis of cardiovascular diseases and the use of such information for their better prediction, prevention and treatment. Above and beyond his academic achievements he is a tireless campaigner for high blood pressure research, an inspirational speaker, a champion of young scientists and clinicians in the field, as well as the ISH.

Professor Harrap gave a lecture at the ISH Cartagena meeting entitled: “Translating the genetics of blood pressure


ISH Robert Tigerstedt Lifetime Achievement Award

This award was originally endowed by Merck Sharp & Dohme International in 1974. The award is presented biennially, on the recommendation of the ISH Awards Committee to a person, persons or institution responsible for distinguished work relating to the aetiology, epidemiology, pathology or treatment of high blood pressure. The achievements of the recipient should reflect distinguished contributions in research, teaching or clinical activities relating to the aetiology, epidemiology, pathology or treatment of high blood pressure and successful mentorship of younger colleagues.

Recipient:

A number of extremely high calibre nominations were received for this award this year. The Awards Committee decided to recognise two world-leading scientists for the immense impact of their research in hypertension


Tomasz Guzik, UK

The Awards Committee appreciated Professor Guzik’s lifetime contributions to uncovering the interplay between vascular, renal, and immune mechanisms in hypertension. As a clinician-scientist, Professor Guzik has provided key mechanistic insights into the role of the immune system in hypertension based on experiments conducted in human blood vessels, large-scale epidemiology, genetic inferences, and proof-of-concept clinical trials. Early in his career, Professor Guzik characterised the system of NADPH oxidases (including Nox4, Nox5) in human blood vessels and demonstrated their functional relevance in hypertension and atherosclerosis, and most recently, in chemotherapy-induced vascular damage. Beyond his outstanding original contributions to cardiovascular science, he is a tireless ambassador for experimental hypertension research bringing it to the fore of research agendas of societies, funding agencies, publishers and journals that he is affiliated with. As a result of this, the Society felt that he was an ideal choice for this Award.

Rhian Touyz, Canada