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Professor Maciej Tomaszewski
President, International Society of Hypertension

ISH President’s Blog – October 2022

Dear Readers:

As I am making my final preparations for our ISH 2022 Kyoto meeting, I cannot help but reflect over the last two years of my ISH presidency.

I took over as ISH President from Professor Alta Schutte in October 2022. A change of ISH Presidency usually occurs at the conclusion of the ISH Biennial Scientific Meeting. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our ISH meeting scheduled for 2020 was delayed until 2021; Professor Schutte and I had agreed to hold our Biennial General Meeting virtually to facilitate a timely change between our consecutive 2-year ISH presidential periods.

This meant that I did not have the opportunity to see my ISH colleagues in person at the start of my presidency – the ESH/ISH Joint Congress in Glasgow (11 – 14 April 2021) was held virtually.

The last two years have been challenging; primarily because of the obstacles presented by COVID-19 pandemic. My Executive Committee and I, like many others, quickly adapted to the new reality by arranging regular virtual meetings and liaising on important Society business through emails, Zoom meetings, and telephone calls. Despite the challenges presented by COVID-19, ISH has carried out a great deal of work.

You will remember that we have made significant changes to the way we recruit and make appointments to ISH leadership positions. The ISH New Blood Campaign introduced openings in the Society for talented, ambitious and dedicated people committed to the mission of the Society. Those recruited to the ISH leadership via the campaign have worked exceptionally well with more established members of the Society on many projects and I think that this mixture of new and familiar (i.e. enthusiasm and experience) is the right recipe for the governance structure of a well-functioning Society. ISH is proud to be inclusive – a high number of our ordinary members have a role in the Society’s leadership. Indeed, at the end of my presidency, we have a total of 140 active members within the ISH Executive, Council, Committees and Groupings. In the truly inspirational spirit that we nurture, they come from 55 different countries, with a better balanced (although not yet perfect) male-to-female ratio (58% to 42%).

One of the major changes that I am proud to see happening during my presidency is the transition of ISH from an unincorporated charity to a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) in the UK. Whilst this might not mean a lot to anyone who is less familiar with legal terms, the incorporation is a step forward to the better security of Society’s Trustees and its governance. This has not been a straightforward process and has required adoption of an updated version of our Constitution. This work has been led by the ISH Constitution Taskforce chaired by ISH Secretary (Professor Bryan Williams) and supported by our solicitors from Anthony Collins. The final draft of the adopted Constitution has been sent for approval by ISH members in early October and the outcome of the voting will be announced at our General Meeting in Kyoto on 15th October. I very much hope that this process will help to put the Society on a secure footing in terms of the arrangement with the Charity Commission of England and Wales and provide the Trustees with the security that they need to operate in the years to come.

You may have heard of, read or actually been involved in our ISH Position Papers initiative. If not, please do not miss our ISH Position Paper session taking place at the ISH 2022 – Kyoto meeting (14th October at 10:00 JST) dedicated to this new activity developed during my presidency. I would like to express my thanks to Professor Nadia Khan (Chair of ISH Research & Education Committee & Lead for Global Initiatives) and Professor George Stergiou (Lead for ISH Position Papers), who have been instrumental in developing the “production pipeline” for the ISH Position Papers. Two of these papers have already been published (Systematic Review and Consensus Statement on Bedtime Dosing of Antihypertensive Medications / International Society of Hypertension Position Paper on the Virtual Management of Hypertension: Lessons from the COVID 19 Pandemic) and have received their first citations. I am delighted to see how well they have been received by our partner Societies (e.g. WHL and ESH) and I am most grateful to them for the endorsements. The other two Position Papers are in the pipeline and I look forward to seeing these published by the end of the year.

Our invited contribution on addressing global disparities in blood pressure control to Cardiovascular Research is currently being proofed, and we should see this seminal paper in press later this year.  Other Society papers have been produced in collaboration with WHL, ESH and Coalition for Circulatory Health along with editorials and ISH Committee papers.  I very much hope that the collection of publications generated during my presidency will constitute an important part of our ISH library. Many thanks to Professor Tazeen Jafar (Lead for ISH College of Experts) for her support of ISH papers, via the ISH College of Experts. We particularly benefited from her advice and insight when it came to the selection of authors and referees. ISH College of Expert is a new structure within the Society and I very much hope that it will continue to attract the best possible experts in the world and support our papers, publications in the years to come.

I am very proud of our new collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO). As per my message to the ISH membership, this collaboration will have its inauguration at the joint ISH-WHO session in Kyoto (13th October at 10:00 JST)). ISH has a long tradition of working with WHO; you will remember that we partnered with WHO and published Guidelines for the Management of Hypertension in 1999. In 2003, ISH and WHO published a statement on management of hypertension. Our ambition is to achieve a non-State actor status with WHO in due course, and the next two years will be critical for the delivery of joint projects and initiatives to move us closer to this ambition. I am most grateful to Dr. Taskeen Khan (WHO Medical Officer) for facilitating this collaborative arrangement through the memorandum of understanding.

The new ISH website and the new membership portal database were another two important projects during my ISH presidency. The ISH website has been developed in WordPress by our website manager (Eva Bogner) and the ISH Communication Committee, chaired by Dr. Dylan Burger. Integrated with the website will be our new ISH member portal that took a few months to reach the format that we require – many thanks to the CJAM production team, who have been working hard to deliver this. We will shortly be in touch with all of you to ask you to update your ISH member profiles. This portal will be integrated with the payment system making it a seamless process for all of us pay our ISH membership fees. I strongly encourage you update your profile – the information on your expertise will be an important source of information to the ISH leadership when it comes to selection of contributors to our projects and initiatives.

I am proud of the Regional Advisory Groups (RAGs) and their local engagement and educational activities, as you will see in their reports at the General Meeting. I am most grateful to Professor Augustine Odili (Chair ISH Africa RAG) and his team for developing the African Hypertension School for Non-Physician Health Workers with the support of OMRON Academy. This has received a tremendous amount of interest and will help to build up the skilled hypertension workforce in Africa. I am also most grateful to Dr. Cesar Romero (Chair of Americas RAG) for strengthening the links between ISH and the national societies in South America and making the ISH RAG for Americas “the first point of contact” for both ISH members and non-members interested in hypertension. This is exactly in the spirit of what I imagine RAGs should do: be ISH’s eyes, ears, and voice when it comes to communication with national societies and regional organisations. I very much hope that over the next few years our network of RAGs will go from strength to strength. The Society is now in a much stronger financial position to support new local projects and initiatives – I am very grateful to Professor Fadi Charchar (ISH Treasurer) and the ISH Finance Committee for their hard work, dedication, and careful spending.

It is not possible to list the details of the brilliant work of all ISH Committees and Groupings here – you will see the scale of their delivery in the reports shared at our General Meeting in Kyoto. I am most grateful to the entire ISH Leadership for their outstanding level of commitment to the Society’s mission over the two years of my presidency. I am very grateful to Helen for her excellent support of the ISH Executive, Council and the entire leadership. Indeed, we all continue benefiting from her insight, input, and the work ethic. I am also very grateful to our ISH Corporate Members and partners and it has been a privilege to work with Presidents of ESH (Prof. Reinhold Kreutz) and WHL (Prof. Xin-Hua Zhang) and their teams. Indeed, we have a wonderful collegiate relationship having supported and having received support for many of the educational and research initiatives.

I have high expectations of ISH 2022 – Kyoto. Professor Hiroshi Itoh and the Local Organising Committee have prepared an outstanding scientific programme that can be enjoyed both virtually and through attendance in person. If you have not registered yet, please do so as soon as possible. Click here.

I look forward to seeing you all in Kyoto and, of course, to the new ISH Presidency that will commence on Sunday 16th October 2022, at the conclusion of the ISH 2022 – Kyoto meeting.  I wish my successor, President-Elect Professor Bryan Williams, all the very best.

I am absolutely confident that the Society, under his leadership, will go from strength to strength!

Thank you to all of you that have been reading my blog, I very much hope that I have delivered some level of insight into the work of the Society and its many initiatives over the last two years.

ISH President’s Blog – July 2022

31st European Meeting on Hypertension and Cardiovascular Protection in Athens (17-20 June 2022)

It was a pleasure to attend and contribute to the European Society of Hypertension (ESH) Annual Meeting in June 2022. For many of us, this was the first face-to-face meeting since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and like many of you, I could not wait to see my colleagues and friends from all over the world and share research and clinical experiences over coffee in between the sessions.

I wish to congratulate both Professor Reinhold Kreutz (ESH Immediate Past President) and Professor Konstantinos Tsioufis (Chair of the Programme Committee) for putting together such an exciting and intellectually stimulating programme. It was great to see a full room of attendees at our ISH-ESH joint session (‘New Therapeutic Opportunities for Management of Hypertension’). All four speakers (Professors Hiroshi Itoh, Bryan Williams, Jan Danser and Philippe van de Borne) delivered outstanding lectures and there was a lot of interaction with the audience during and after the session.

The ESH meeting was also an opportunity for the inauguration of a new Committee (ESH-ISH Journal of Hypertension Committee). The Committee was established by President Kreutz and me to maintain dialogue between the ESH and ISH and our official journal. The Committee will formally replace the Board of Management of the Journal of Hypertension in the governance structure of ISH when the new contract with the publisher has been signed. Many thanks to Professor Anthony (Tony) Heagerty (Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Hypertension) for attending our first meeting and providing exciting updates on our flagship publication.

Ukraine

It was lovely to see colleagues from Ukraine attending the ESH 2022 meeting. Many personal and deeply touching stories have been emerging in discussions with them, either directly or through colleagues who have been in contact with them. I met Professor Svitlana Korol a cardiologist from Kyiv who was immensely grateful for the support that has been received by those from her country. She is currently in Italy where she has a position in medical industry.

One of our Society members, Professor Anna Shalimova from Kharkiv National Medical University, has moved to Poland to work with Professor Krzysztof Narkiewicz (Past President of ESH, 2009-2011) and his team in the Department of Hypertension and Diabetology at the Medical University of Gdansk. Professor Narkiewicz and his colleagues have provided an outstanding level of support to facilitate this. I am most grateful to them for this wonderful example of courage and kindness and to Professor Shalimova for her kind agreement to share her story and photographs with us. It is so comforting to see how members of our Society support and assist one another across geographical borders during such difficult times.

Professor Anna Shalimova

Professor Krzysztof Narkiewicz and his team in the Department of Hypertension and Diabetology at the Medical University of Gdansk

Global Call to Action on Dietary Sodium

Further to a recent World Hypertension League (WHL) led publication by Campbell et al. (2022) in Journal of Human Hypertension (https://rdcu.be/cNIMn) we have been working on dissemination of this important contribution through our communication outlets. Dr Erika Jones (ISH Communications Committee), Professor Yook-Chin Chia and Professor Hae-Young Lee (members of the ISH Asia Pacific Regional Advisory Group) have worked together with several ISH Officers on a commentary, now accepted for publication in Journal of Hypertension. I look forward to sharing this with you when it is published ahead-of-print.

Professor Yook-Chin Chia will be known to many of you as one of the most passionate advocates for the reduction of salt and sugar consumption and the founder/president of the Malaysian Society for World Action on Salt, Sugar and Health (MyWASSH), an affiliated society of ISH. MyWASSH recently shared its first bulletin with us – I was delighted to learn more about its programme of activities and see so many keen researchers and clinicians already involved in this new ISH Affiliated Society. I am also very curious to practise some of the cooking recipes that Professor Chia and her team propose as alternatives to traditional meals known to be high in salt.

Professor Yook-Chin Chia

Newly established agreement between ISH and WHO

I am delighted to confirm that acting on behalf of ISH, I have signed a memorandum of understanding with World Health Organization (WHO). The agreement between WHO and ISH formalises our joint commitment to work together on different projects, publications, and meetings over the next five years. As mentioned before, ISH’s ambition is to become a WHO non-State actor. You will shortly hear about a joint WHO-ISH session at our ISH 2022 meeting in Kyoto – one of the first projects underpinning this collaboration. Many thanks to Dr Taskeen Khan (WHO Medical Officer, Department of Non-Communicable Diseases) for her kind support and facilitation of this exciting development.

ISH 2022 meeting in Kyoto (12-16 October 2022)

Our Vice-President and chair of ISH2022 Committee Professor Hiroshi Itoh and his team are continuing their outstanding work on our upcoming ISH Biennial Scientific Meeting. We received over 1,200 abstracts by early July 2022! At the time of writing, the Local Organising Committee have been completing their review of these submissions.

The call for late-breaking abstracts is now open; the deadline for submissions is 23:59 JST on 26th July 2022, more information is available here: https://www.ish2022.org/scientific-information/abstract-submission/. I strongly encourage you to submit. The late-breaking sessions at the ISH meetings traditionally gain great visibility and attention and this is a fantastic opportunity for you to highlight your recent data from clinical studies and outstanding basic research.

ISH collaborations

I am excited to report on the new collaborations between ISH and other societies.

  • The Endocrine Society is preparing their new guidance on the management of primary aldosteronism and ISH has accepted their kind invitation to co-sponsor this guidance. Professor Bryan Williams (ISH Secretary and President-Elect) will represent us as a member of the expert panel.
  • American Heart Association (AHA) has invited us to contribute to their roundtable discussion at the AHA Scientific Sessions 2022 in Chicago (5-7 November 2022). Professor Fadi Charchar (ISH Treasurer) will contribute to the discussion on ‘New Directions in Lifestyle Management of Hypertension’.
  • Professor Sang Hyun Ihm (President of the Korean Society of Hypertension – KSH) and Professor Sungha Park (Head of the KSH International Cooperation Team) have been working with us to organise a joint ISH-KSH session on resistant hypertension. With Professor Hiroshi Itoh’s support, KSH has secured a morning slot for this session in the programme of ISH2022 meeting and we are now working on finalising the programme of this session.
  • Professor Atul Pathak (President of the French Society of Hypertension – SFHTA) has kindly offered his assistance in the dissemination of the ISH 2020 Global Hypertension Practice Guidelines through translation of the guidelines into French. We are delighted that this will increase the outreach of our seminal contribution and we look forward to working closely with the French Society of Hypertension on this and other projects.

Awards, promotions, accolades

Congratulations to Professor Bryan Williams (ISH Secretary and President-Elect) for being awarded Sir George Pickering Lecture at the 2022 British and Irish Hypertension Society (BIHS) Annual Scientific Meeting (to be held in York, 12-14 September 2022). Many congratulations to our ISH members, Dr Luca Faconti (King’s College London) and Dr Pankaj Gupta (University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust), for being elected as the Treasurer and Member of the Executive Committee of BIHS, an affiliated society of ISH.

Professor Bryan Williams

Dr Luca Faconti

Dr Pankaj Gupta

ISH President’s Blog – May 2022

Support for Ukraine

Like many of you, I have been absolutely horrified by the scale of disaster and tragedy emerging every day since late February 2022 when Russian Federation invaded Ukraine. President Kreutz and I, the Councils of ISH and European Society of Hypertension (ESH) have issued a joint statement to condemn Russian Federation’s aggression against a sovereign European state and confirmed our full support for Ukrainian people, our friends and colleagues. We also announced that ISH and ESH have had to suspend our affiliations with the Russian Society of Hypertension and the Russian Antihypertensive League – we will neither be able to endorse nor support any scientific meetings held in Russia or organised by either of those Russian Societies. I urge you to support Ukraine, for example through making a donation to international charities such as UNHCR or ICRC (as per our announcement). I am already aware of magnificent and humbling examples of help and support provided by our members to those affected by Russian’s invasion of Ukraine. My heartfelt thanks go to them.

ISH Presidential elections 2022

Bryan Williams

Bryan Williams

Pictured: Bryan Williams (UK), ISH President-Elect and Secretary

ISH has elected the new ISH President 2022-2024. You will know from the formal communications by the chair of the ISH Elections Committee (Professor Fadi Charchar) that Professor Bryan Williams (current ISH Secretary and Chair of Medicine at University College London) will take up the Presidential office in October 2022. Professor Williams will be known to you as one of the world’s leaders in hypertension; his many scientific and clinical accomplishments need no introduction. His research into hypertension is an example of truly transcendent science and his commitment to ISH and his support of myself and the ISH Executive Committee has been exemplary. I am confident that, under his leadership, the Society will go from strength to strength. Many congratulations to Professor Williams on becoming the next ISH President – please also read the formal announcement on the ISH website and in the ISH Bulletin. I would like to thank the ISH Elections Committee (Professors Charchar, Khan and Cho) for their outstanding work and Helen – for supporting them.

31st Scientific Meeting of the ESH and World Hypertension League (WHL) Congress 2022

Many of you will join us at the 31st Scientific Meeting of the ESH on “Hypertension and Cardiovascular Protection” in Athens (17th-20th June 2022). I am delighted to confirm that ESH and ISH will hold a joint session on 18th June 2022, this session is dedicated to the new therapeutic options in the management of hypertension and will involve excellent speakers selected from both the ESH and ISH membership. Professor Kreutz (ESH President) and I will chair the session. I invite you attend this session and look forward to meeting many of you there; the programme of the meeting is truly outstanding!

I’d also like to encourage you to attend the next WHL congress in Macau (13th – 15th May 2022). The meeting will also be held in a hybrid format, yet for many of us in Europe our contributions to this exciting conference will be mostly through remote participation; travel has not fully returned to normal yet, although gradual positive changes can be seen and the world is beginning to open up again. Professor Zhang (WHL President) has kindly invited me to co-chair a session dedicated to salt “Sodium reduction-evidence from validated research and impact on population health”. You may remember that ISH has supported our friends and colleagues from WHL in the seminal contribution ‘2022 World Hypertension League, Resolve to Save Lives and International Society of Hypertension Dietary Sodium (Salt) Global Call to Action’ soon to be published in the Journal of Human Hypertension. ISH will also hold a dedicated session ‘Different facets of hypertension management’. chaired by members of ISH leadership (Professors Kokubo, Jafar, and Borghi). The session will cover a variety of topics – from the management of blood pressure in young people to treatment of hypertension in low-resource settings; again, I strongly encourage your attendance at this session.

ISH Kyoto 2022 and ISH Awards

Preparations for our next biennial scientific meeting are well underway, under the outstanding leadership of Professor Hiroshi Itoh (ISH Vice President and Chair of the Local Organising Committee). The abstract submission is now open and the deadline to submit abstracts is 17th May 2022 (World Hypertension Day). Please do not miss the opportunity to present your best science and win one of the ISH/Kyoto 2022 awards! Indeed, the ISH Awards Committee has just released the call for nominations – please check out the nomination criteria and nominate your colleagues. It does appear from the number of initial enquiries that there is a strong interest in the Society’s awards. Both Prof. Tomasz Guzik (Chair of the ISH Awards Committee) and I are always happy to answer any queries you may have in this regard.

ISH President’s Blog – January / February 2022

Happy New Year! I very much hope that all of you enjoyed a well-deserved break over the festive season. Hopefully, 2022 will bring us some sense of normality!

Countdown to the ISH Kyoto 2022 Meeting

I am delighted to confirm that our Vice President, Professor Hiroshi Itoh, the Local Organising Committee and ISH Kyoto 2022 Programme Committee have been working hard to welcome you at our Biennial Scientific Meeting in Kyoto in October 2022. Please visit www.ish2022.org to find out more and watch ISH Kyoto 2022 countdown videos from our Society leaders at https://www.facebook.com/ISH2022/. The abstract submission site will open this month and there will be exciting opportunities for all those attending to present, socialise and win awards (in particular young investigators). Further details will follow shortly.

Global Coalition for Circulatory Health Partnership

The Society has been invited to join partner organisations within The Global Coalition for Circulatory Health to support a joint statement on circulatory health and pandemic preparedness; this was presented at the 150th session of the World Health Organization’s Executive Board (24th-29th January 2022). The joint statement follows on from ISH’s existing collaboration with Framework Convention Alliance for Tobacco Control, International Alliance of Patients’ Organizations, International Council of Nurses, International Diabetes Federation, International Society of Nephrology, World Federation of Public Health Associations, World Heart Federation, World Hypertension League, World Organization of Family Doctors, World Stroke Organization, and International Atherosclerosis Society on Circulatory Health. I am grateful to Drs Erica Jones and Dylan Burger for representing us on this Coalition.

ISH Administrative Support Transformation

I am delighted to confirm that, with the support of my ISH Executive Committee, we have now completed the transformation in the provision of administrative support for the Society. The overall ambition was to make this service ISH-focused, member-orientated, more streamlined, and more economical. This process started in late 2020 with the appointment of Helen Horsfield to the position of ISH Executive Assistant and was largely applauded by the ISH leadership and members. Since her appointment, Helen has made enormous progress in her work supporting almost all ISH committees and, and as of 14th January 2022, she will be providing administrative support for all ISH committees and groups.

I am also delighted to confirm that we have appointed:

  • Hilary Millroy to the position of ISH Finance Officer. Hilary provided support for ISH operations for several years previously and was instrumental in resolving a very complex financial matter in 2020. Hilary will report directly to the ISH Treasurer and ISH Finance Committee. Welcome back, Hilary!
  • C J Association Management (CJAM) as a provider of membership, governance, and support of communication services. Ms Emma Pinion will be the first point of contact for membership queries at membership@ish-world.com
Emma Pinion

Emma Pinion

Hilary Millroy

Hilary Millroy

We are most grateful to Ms. Margaret Sherry and her team (Leonie, Juliet, Luxor, Claire) from In-Conference for the support they have provided to ISH over the last three years, and all their hard work for the Society.

You will be pleased to know that Mr. Jason Simms and his team at CJAM are finalising the build of a new ISH membership database that will interface with our Society website. This will provide an easy-to-navigate, safe, and friendly environment for ISH members to renew their annual memberships, check their records, and communicate. Further to the development of new ISH website in 2021, this is another huge milestone in the life of our Society towards modernising our digital infrastructure.

Jason Simms

Jason Simms

Initiatives with other partners: ESH, WHL and Cardiovascular Research

Professor Reinhold Kreutz – President of European Society of Hypertension (ESH) has kindly invited me to nominate one of our members to contribute to an ESH project focusing upon pregnancy-related hypertension. Professor Tazeen Jafar, Lead for the ISH College of Experts and I agreed to open this invitation to the entire ISH membership to enhance new career opportunities within the ISH. With Helen’s support, we made a call for expressions of interest from those with expertise in this area of medicine and commitment to represent the Society in this ESH initiative. I am delighted to confirm that further to the review of expressions of interest by the ISH College of Experts, Dr Pensée Wu from Keele University, UK has been selected and agreed to represent ISH on the ESH project and paper. Many congratulations to Dr Wu, I am sure she will do a great job.

Professor Reinhold Kreutz

Professor Reinhold Kreutz

Professor Tazeen Jafar

Professor Tazeen Jafar

Dr Pensée Wu

Dr Pensée Wu

ISH has supported our friends and colleagues at World Hypertension League (WHL) in their important undertaking “Dietary Sodium Global Call to Action”. This project led by Professor Norm Campbell brought together WHL, Resolve to Save Lives, and ISH in the commitment to support reductions in dietary sodium as a high health priority. I am very grateful to ISH-affiliated national and regional societies who have endorsed this important initiative, we will keep you updated upon further progress.

Norm Campbell

Norm Campbell

Our collaboration with Cardiovascular Research in a forthcoming paper “Addressing global disparities in blood pressure control: Perspectives of the International Society of Hypertension” is at the penultimate stage. More than 30 authors, representing each of the six ISH Regional Advisory Groups, together with the most senior members of the Society (including three Past Presidents) and junior representatives from our New Investigator Committee, have now completed the work on the paper. ISH lead on the paper (Professor Alta Schutte) will circulate the draft for internal peer review to a group of reviewers, identified by the ISH College of Experts. I anticipate the submission of this important Society’s publication by the end of February 2022.

ISH Leadership Updates

The ISH Asia Pacific Regional Advisory Group and the ISH International Forum have new leaders. Professor Myeong-Chan Cho, who has been providing an outstanding leadership for those initiatives has had to reduce his external commitments due to an influx of new academic responsibilities in South Korea. I have appointed Professor Rafael Castillo (the Philippines) to ISH International Forum Chair, and Professor Wook Bum Pyun (South Korea) to ISH Asia Pacific Regional Advisory Group Chair. I am indebted to Professor Cho for his outstanding leadership, and I wish Professors Castillo and Pyun all the best in their new roles. Professor Castillo, as the new ISH International Forum Chair, has already contributed to an important publication “Hypertension and Vascular Disease in Asia”, published by Springer I strongly encourage you to take a look at this important publication; many congratulations to Professor Castillo.

Rafael Castillo

Rafael Castillo

Wook Bum Pyun

Wook Bum Pyun

Mentoring Podcasts

Those of you who have been following our ISH Mentorship and Training Committee will be aware of the outstanding job they are doing in interviewing people at different stages of their careers and providing important practical career advice to our members. The most recent interviews with ISH leaders, including Professor Tazeen Jafar, Professor Bryan Williams and Dr Brandi Wynne were fantastic. They are freely available on Spotify. Many thanks to Dr Francine Marques and her team for their outstanding work.

Francine Marques

Francine Marques

WHO non-State Actor Status

The ISH Executive Committee, representatives of other ISH Committees and I have been working together with World Health Organisation (WHO) to realise our ambition of the Society becoming a WHO non-State actor. This important status would provide the ISH with increased visibility and many new opportunities for our members, for example – to contribute to projects under WHO leadership. I am delighted to confirm we have now developed the proposal and submitted it for consideration by WHO (as a memorandum of understanding). Upon signing, we will have 24 months to deliver on proposed collaborative projects – it will be up to the next ISH President and their Executive to complete this important task for the Society. Yet, I am satisfied that we have managed to make the first step towards this goal.

Professor Maciej Tomaszewski
President, International Society of Hypertension

ISH President’s Blog – October / November 2021

ISH Logo

Annual Charity Commission Report

Autumn is usually one of the busiest times of the year in everyone’s schedules; this is no different for the International Society of Hypertension (ISH). We have just submitted our annual report to the Charity Commission. There is always a considerable amount of work put into this document, and I would like to thank Professor Bryan Williams (ISH Secretary), Professor Fadi J. Charchar (ISH Treasurer), Helen Horsfield (ISH Executive Assistant) and our In Conference colleagues (Leonie Postma and Juliet Bruce-Dickie), who have all worked tirelessly to prepare this document.

Bryan Williams

Bryan Williams

Fadi Charchar

Fadi Charchar

Helen Horsfield

Helen Horsfield

Leonie Postma

Leonie Postma

Juliet Bruce-Dickie

Juliet Bruce-Dickie

ISH Position Papers

Under the leadership of Professor Nadia Khan (ISH Officer-at-Large and Chair of the ISH Research & Education Committee), Professor George Stergiou (Lead for ISH Position Papers) and Professor Tazeen Jafar (Lead for ISH College of Experts) we are making great progress with the first wave of ISH position papers. Earlier this year, the ISH Research & Education Committee carefully chose four topics that should be covered in our Position Papers and, accordingly, selected the lead authors for these papers. Professor Khan is leading a paper on the virtual management of hypertension, Professor Stergiou – on the bedtime dosing of antihypertensive medications, Professor Williams and Professor Jafar (jointly) on combination treatment in hypertension and Professor Charchar – on physical activity and lifestyle in hypertension. In the spirit of inclusivity that I nurture, we have released a call for expressions of interest to the wide ISH leadership as an opportunity to contribute to the seminal publications of the Society. In addition, we secured interest to contribute from our partners in other Societies. We are deliberately commencing work on each of these papers at a different time to avoid accumulating the workload that these initiatives take, and I’m delighted to confirm that the drafts of the first two papers are close to completion. Our ISH-led review invited by Cardiovascular Research is also progressing well under the leadership of Professor Alta Schutte (ISH Past President). I will keep you updated on the progress of all these papers.

Nadia Khan

Nadia Khan

George Stergiou

George Stergiou

Tazeen Jafar

Tazeen Jafar

Alta Schutte

Alta Schutte

Global Coalition for Circulatory Health seminar

To foster existing alliances, I represented ISH at a Global Coalition for Circulatory Health seminar “Preventing the next pandemic: the case for investing in circulatory health” – this was attended by representatives from World Heart Federation, World Hypertension League, and other partner Societies. The webinar was opened by the Director-General of the World Health Organisation, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus; this was followed by panel discussions. The importance of investing in circulatory health could not be stressed more during the seminar and I am delighted that the paper that summarises the position of ISH and our partners is now available in Global Heart (https://globalheartjournal.com/articles/10.5334/gh.1077/); I would like to thank Drs. Dylan Burger and Erica Jones from the ISH Communications Committee, for representing ISH in this important coalition.

Dylan Burger

Dylan Burger

Erika Jones

Erika Jones

Café ISH

Many of you will have already heard about the new ISH educational activity, Café ISH. This exciting series of short seminars was launched on International Coffee Day and it was only appropriate that Professor Claudio Borghi (our ISH Council member) opened this series with a short Italian espresso and a wonderful overview entitled “The truth about coffee and blood pressure”; it has already accumulated a huge number of views on Youtube.

I am delighted that another contribution from Professor Neil Poulter, ISH Past President, is also now available; more interesting presentations to come. Many thanks to Professor Nadia Khan (ISH Officer-at-Large and Chair Research and Education Committee), Dr Dylan Burger (Chair Communications Committee), Professor Yoshihiro Kokubo (ISH Lead for Education), Dr Brandi Wynne (Chair New Investigator Committee), Dr. Manja Zec, Dr. Vikas Kapil, and other members of the Society for making this happen. I am looking forward to watching another contribution whilst having my double espresso on Saturday morning.

ISH Affiliated Society Meetings

Members of the ISH Leadership are actively taking part in an array of conferences, many of which have been organised virtually.

I, personally, contributed to the opening of the recent Pakistan Hypertension League Symposium, where the Society was represented by our South and Central Asia Regional Advisory Group (SACA RAG) under Professor Mohammad Ishaq’s leadership (Chair ISH SACA RAG). We are grateful to the Pakistan Hypertension League for hosting this conference and, in doing so, strengthening their association with ISH.

On 5th November 2021, Professor Williams and I were also delighted to deliver lectures at the joint ISH-Korean Society of Hypertension session. Many thanks to Professor Sang Hyun Ihm (President of Korean Society of Hypertension) and Professor Myeong-Chan Cho, ISH Executive Committee member, for this kind invitation. The session dedicated to combined treatment and adherence was exceptionally exciting and well organised; we look forward to seeing our colleagues from national societies in person, hopefully soon.

ISH 2026 Scientific Meeting- Call for Bids – Deadline 1st March 2022

The Council of the International Society of Hypertension (ISH) would like to invite scientists, research groups or national societies with an interest in hypertension to host the ISH Biennial Scientific Meeting in 2026 and I am delighted that Professor Fadi Charchar (ISH Treasurer) will be leading this process on behalf of the Society.

ISH particularly encourages submissions from regions that have not hosted ISH Biennial Scientific Meetings before.
Find out more

Award recognition

Finally, many congratulations to our esteemed colleagues and ISH council members for the awards they have won. I would, firstly, like to congratulate Professor Barbara Casadei, Past President of the European Society of Cardiology for her John Swales Lecture and Award 2021. This prestigious recognition was established by the University of Leicester in the memory of Professor John Swales. It always generates a lot of interest and many of us who practice hypertension here in the UK attend this event every year. This year was no different and for many of us it was the first face-to-face lecture since the beginning of the pandemic.

Professor Barbara Casadei giving her John Swales Lecture on 14th September 2021

An image of Professor John Swales from the lecture

I was delighted to learn that Professor Thomas MacDonald was awarded and delivered the Sir George Pickering lecture at the British and Irish Hypertension Society in Brighton on 14th September 2021.

I also wish to congratulate Professor Ulrike (Muscha) Steckelings (ISH Executive Committee member), for receiving the Harriet Dustan Award and Lecture and Professor Markus Schlaich (ISH Council member) for delivering the Arthur C. Corcoran Memorial Lecture, at the Hypertension Scientific Sessions 2021 of American Heart Association. All very well-deserved recognitions!

Ulrike (Muscha) Steckelings

Ulrike (Muscha) Steckelings

Markus Schlaich

Markus Schlaich

Professor Maciej Tomaszewski
President, International Society of Hypertension

ISH President’s Blog – August 2021

As the summer holiday season comes to an end in various parts of the world, many of us return to our usual work commitments in hospitals, universities and beyond. I hope those of you who have had a break are feeling refreshed.

Journal of Hypertension: New Editor-in-Chief

The summer has brought a change in the leadership at the Journal of Hypertension – our official publication. You will know by now that Professor Anthony (Tony) Heagerty was appointed as the new Editor-in-Chief of the Journal. This appointment was preceded by a very competitive selection process culminating in an interview by a panel composed of the Journal’s Board of Management members and chaired by Professor Fadi Charchar (previous ISH Vice President and current ISH Treasurer).

Professor Heagerty (Tony) will be known to many of you as a past president of ISH, British and Irish Hypertension Society (BIHS) and ESH. He takes over from Professor Giuseppe Mancia and his team who have provided outstanding leadership for the Society’s flagship publication for many years.

I am delighted to confirm that Professor Mancia will support Professor Heagerty as a consulting editor during the transition period. The ISH Executive Committee and I, as well as the entire ISH leadership, wish Tony and his team all the best in their new roles. I encourage you to read our formal announcement on this change of Journal leadership to be published in the next issue of the ISH newsletter (Hypertension News).

Pictured from left to right: Tony Heagerty, Giuseppe Mancia

I am also extremely pleased to confirm that several of our colleagues within the ISH leadership have been appointed as Associate Editors to the Journal of Hypertension under Tony’s leadership. Many congratulations to Professor Augustine Odili (Chair ISH Africa Regional Advisory Group), Dr Brandi M. Wynne (Chair ISH New Investigator Committee) and Dr Adam Greenstein (Member ISH Corporate Liaison Committee) for their appointments. We wish them all the best in their new roles.

Pictured from left to right: Adam Greenstein, Augustine Odili, Brandi Wynne

New Accolades to ISH members

As mentioned before, it always gives me enormous pleasure to learn about the awards, accolades and recognition awarded to our members. It is with great personal pleasure that I write about the Gold Medal awarded to Professor Sir Nilesh Samani [British Heart Foundation (BHF) Medical Director] by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in recognition of his contributions to cardiovascular medicine. The ESC’s highest honour was awarded to Sir Nilesh at this year’s ESC Annual Congress. On behalf of the ISH Executive and the Society, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Sir Nilesh for this very well-deserved accolade! We are very proud to have him amongst our active members!

Stride BP

Many of you will be familiar with the Stride BP initiative. This scientific, non-profit organisation was founded by hypertension experts and is dedicated to the accuracy in Blood Pressure (BP) measurements and clinical diagnosis of hypertension and is endorsed by the ISH. Click here to find out more.

I was delighted to learn that a Stride BP e-learning platform has recently launched three educational modules on BP measurements dedicated to healthcare professionals. The e-platform is free of charge, and I strongly encourage you to visit their website and take advantage of this new educational development.

Many congratulations to Professor George Stergiou, Chairman of the Executive Management Board (pictured below) for his extraordinary commitment and dedication to this initiative.

Thanks to the ISH Leadership

I am very proud of the plethora of initiatives that have been organised by the ISH leadership over the last few months for our members (to include the recent Mentorship and Training Committee Seminar on Sex Differences in Hypertension, New Investigator Committee ISH Live events and Women in Hypertension Research dedicated newsletter to name a few). I hope that you will become actively involved and make use of all Society opportunities (where applicable to you) and I look forward to working with you all in the coming months.

With best wishes,

Professor Maciej Tomaszewski
President, International Society of Hypertension

ISH President’s Blog – June 2021

World Hypertension Day

The Society celebrated World Hypertension Day (WHD) on 17th May 2021 and supported our friends and colleagues at WHL in their campaign; Measure Your Blood Pressure, Control It, Live Longer. Professor Steckelings (chair of Women in Hypertension Research Committee), Dr Burger (chair of ISH Communications) and I, prepared a press release that we circulated on WHD. Please view this here.

Under the leadership of Dr Dylan Burger, our members have prepared an educational video for those who live with hypertension. These are very simple messages and I strongly encourage you to watch the video and share this with those who would benefit from that.

You will also see that the quality of the educational video is excellent, and I am delighted to see how quickly we are advancing our communication outlets thanks to our excellent Communications Committee.

I am also confident that many of you have taken the opportunity to check your own blood pressure on WHD and have followed the recommendations of the ISH guidelines.

Partnerships

The Society has partnered with our sister Societies thorough the Global Coalition of Circulatory Health and signed a joint constituency statement for the 74th World Health Assembly. Together with World Heart Federation (WHF), International Alliance of Patients’ Organizations (IAPO), International Atherosclerosis Society (IAS), International Council of Nurses (ICN), International Diabetes Federation (IDF), International Society of Nephrology (ISN), NCD Alliance, World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA), and World Stroke Organization (WSO), we have called on our partners in health to urgently address the key risk factors and preventative measures that can help fight the hidden “syndemic” of non-communicable, and especially circulatory, diseases and COVID-19.

We have also supported our partner organisations in a joint Resolution on Diabetes Prevention and Management, including access to insulin, again to be read at the 74th World Health Assembly.

In the spirit of building up partnerships with our sister organisations, societies and the publishing industry, I have accepted an invitation from the Cardiovascular Research Editor-in-Chief, Professor Tomasz Guzik. This publication will be very well-known to you as one of the leading journals in cardiovascular science. In recognition of the Society’s expertise in hypertension and cardiovascular research, we have been ask to write a comprehensive review on epidemiology and global impact of hypertension.

This extensive review is intended to provide up-to-date information on the global burden of epidemiology of hypertension and we plan to involve a large number of our members, and in particular members of our Regional Advisory Groups (RAGs). Please let us know through Helen if you have expertise in this area of research and are willing to contribute. We will soon be soliciting a further call for expression of interest.

I recently e-met with the WHL Secretary, Professor Gianfranco Parati. As you know, we work closely with WHL as a part of our Society business. We had a very fruitful discussion on ISH-WHL collaborations and the up-coming ISH 2022 meeting in Kyoto where I hope to see Gianfranco and WHL colleagues and friends in person (rather than via Zoom). I always find these business meetings exciting not only because we see our colleagues and discuss important Society issues but there is also an opportunity to share some of the recent insights from our research labs, clinics and hospitals. This time, Gianfranco shared a very interesting paper on blood pressure during lockdown “Home blood pressure during COVID-19 related lockdown in patients with hypertension” by Martino Pengal. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurjpc/zwab061.142

Mentorship and Training Committee

Drs Francine Marques and Augusto Montezano from the Mentorship and Training Committee are regularly interviewing leaders in cardiovascular research so that they can share their insights and experience with the wider ISH membership and beyond. These podcasts are released free of charge on Spotify, and I strongly encourage you to listen to them, the last ones are with Dr Annet Kirabo, Dr Mariane Bertagnoli and Professor Paul Whelton, WHL president-elect.

Member successes and recognitions

I am always delighted to learn about the successes and recognitions awarded to our regular members and those on our ISH leadership. To this end, I was delighted to learn that Professor Bryan Williams, ISH Secretary, was awarded the 2021 World Hypertension League (WHL) Peter Sleight Award in Research. Professor Myeong-Chan Cho, our ISH International Forum Officer, was recently elected the chairman of the Precision Medicine and Genomics Working Group of the Korean Society of Heart Failure. Professor Markus Schlaich, ISH Council member, was awarded the European Society of

Hypertension (ESH) Björn Folkow Award and Lecture and presented at the Joint ESH-ISH 2021 Meeting.  Many congratulations to all of them! It would be most helpful to let us know when you have won an award or recognition that you wish to share with the ISH. I am always very keen to share this news via ISH communications outlets and my blog.

Pictured from left to right: Professors Bryan Williams, Myeong-Chan Cho and Markus Schlaich

ISH merchandise

You might be aware that the ISH, in order to improve the financial stability of the Society, has launched an initiative to sell ISH merchandise.  Many of us found this a fantastic opportunity to buy an ISH branded item to put on the desk.  Please check out this link.

Conferences

The conference season is in full flow. I recently attended the launch of the Pakistan Society of Internal Medicine Course on Hypertension and many of our ISH leadership members, including myself, will be contributing lectures at this course that will run until August 2021. I was also pleased to accept an invitation to deliver a lecture on resistant hypertension at the Nigerian Cardiac Society (NCS) State-of-the-Art-Lecture on 16th June 2021 – many thanks to Professor Augustine Odilli for organising it.

With the travel restrictions loosening, in many countries, I very much hope that you will have an opportunity to have a well-deserved break.

I welcome your ideas, suggestions and contributions to our Society.

Professor Maciej Tomaszewski
President, International Society of Hypertension

ISH President’s Blog – April 2021

Time flies quickly – it has been seven months since my ISH Presidency started. Since October 2020 we have a total of 23 ISH Committees and Groupings bringing together 120 members from all over the world. This is the largest leadership we have seen in the history of ISH and I am delighted to see such a depth and breadth of experience, insight, energy and above all – the truly global representation. A majority of new appointments to ISH Committees have been feasible as a result of ISH New Blood Campaign. The idea for this new recruitment initiative was born in early summer 2020. Together with my colleagues Dylan Burger and Richard Wainford, we launched it in early Autumn 2020 – the overarching objectives were to attract new talent to the Society and to create new opportunities for those who wish to make larger contributions to the ISH. The campaign received tremendous interest and support on social media – at the peak of advertising one of our ISH tweets had 20,000 likes!

All expressions of interests were carefully reviewed “centrally”; this was followed by email exchanges and interviews between prospective candidates and the chairs of ISH Committees. I was very impressed by the diversity of these applications both in terms of country of origin (nearly 40 countries) and the academic seniority – from well-established professors known for their extraordinary research and education track, to those who have just started their careers at the University/hospital and are willing to dedicate their energy and time to the ISH’s mission. All appointments were confirmed in autumn 2020 and subsequently ratified at the Executive Committee meetings (which we hold every 6-8 weeks via Zoom). Warm welcome to all members of ISH Committees – I am truly delighted to have you all on board!

ISH administrative support

Many of you will already know that a very familiar face known her extraordinary efficiency, commitment to ISH’s mission and familiarity with ISH’s past and present business – Mrs Helen Horsfield – is back as ISH administrative assistant. I have received an outpour of support and gratitude from our members (coming from all corners of the world) for bringing Helen back to the Society (where she belongs).

Currently, Helen is primarily supporting the Executive Committee and several other Committees of the Society while our ISH Secretariat remains the first point of contact for all ISH members. However, I cannot imagine that there are any ISH members who have not yet been in touch with Helen directly or indirectly. I share the enthusiasm of my Executive Committee and many ISH members – it is wonderful to have Helen back and I hope you will stay with the Society for many years to come.

Sincere thanks to our Communications Committee

I am delighted to confirm that under the excellent leadership of Dylan Burger and his Communications Committee our communication outlets are going from strength to strength. One of the newest developments is the brand new ISH website – fully secure, proud and looking outwards into the future! This has been feasible with the collaboration with our new website developer and supporter, Ms Eva Bogner.

Website Task Force Members

Dylan Burger

Dylan Burger

Chair / Canada
Anastasia Mihailidou

Anastasia Mihailidou

Deputy Chair / Australia
Evi Christofidou

Evi Christofidou

UK
James Eales

James Eales

UK
Praveen Veerabhadrappa

Praveen Veerabhadrappa

USA

ISH Secretary – Professor Bryan Williams – has been updating you constantly on the activities within ISH leadership through the monthly E-Bulletins. I would strongly encourage you to read them from cover to cover. Our Hypertension News Editors – Lars H. Lindholm and Dylan Burger have been working tirelessly on our Newsletter – it is a publication the Society can be proud of. Over the coming weeks we will be bringing news on the Society’s business and activities mainly via the ISH Bulletin, the website and our Social Media while our Newsletter (Hypertension News) will remain an excellent platform to share science, clinical insights and new discoveries.

And of course, you are always very welcome to visit the Society’s Journal website with the newest articles also highlighted in our E-Bulletin.

ISH Scientific Meetings

I was really excited to attend the sessions, seminars, debates and meetings at the ESH-ISH-BIHS Scientific Meeting last week (in virtual Glasgow) and see the enormous enthusiasm for hypertension research globally. I obviously missed meetings friends and colleagues from around the world in person and having chats over coffee after sessions. The meeting was a great success and congratulations to Professor Dame Anna Dominiczak and the organising committee for navigating through the difficult circumstances and attracting a record number  of participants (over 5,000).

Those of you who cannot wait until we see each other face to face will be delighted to know that Professor Hiroshi Itoh (ISH Vice President) and his team are making fast progress for our next ISH meeting in Kyoto 2022. I strongly encourage you to view the video prepared by  the local organising committee. It promises a most exciting programme; most importantly those who attend will have the chance (possibly for the first time since the pandemic started) to see friends, colleagues and collaborators in person.

I am very happy to present this beautiful promotional slide of the meeting and encourage you to share it with your colleagues.

I personally cannot wait to meet you all in person in the beautiful city of Kyoto and enjoy an extraordinarily exciting programme.

Under the leadership of Professor Fadi J Charchar (ISH Treasurer) we have now completed a rigorous selection process and identified a new site for the ISH Biennial Meeting in 2024. I am delighted to confirm that our ISH meeting will be held in Cartagena (Colombia) and Professor Patricio Lopez- Jaramillo will lead the local Organising Committee. Many congratulations to Professor Lopez-Jaramillo and his team for submitting the successful bid – we look forward to working with him and his Committee over the next months.

ISH New Blood Campaign

Professor Maciej Tomaszewski
President, International Society of Hypertension

  • 1st row from left to right: Anne Monique Nuyt (Canada), Tazeen Jafar (Singapore), Niamh Chapman (Australia), Jafar Alsaid (Bahrain), Audrey Adji (Australia), Abiodun Adeoye (Nigeria), Fady Hannah Shmouni (USA), Xin Joy Wang (UK)
  • 2nd row from left to right: Henry Ndhlovu (Malawi), Philippe Delmotte (Belgium), Heddwen Brooks (USA), Erwinanto Erwinanto (Indonesia), Elizabeth Muxfeldt (Brazil), Satoko Nakamura (Japan), Daniel Piskorz (Argentina), Abdullah Shehab (UAE)
  • 3rd row from left to right: Diego Lucumi (Colombia), Joseph Flynn (USA), Alice Veronika Lamwaka (Uganda), Rana El-Bikai (Lebanon), Swapnil Hiremath (Canada), Augustine Odili (Nigeria), Erika Jones (South Africa), Eun Joo Cho (South Korea).
  • 4th row from left to right: Charlotte Mills (UK), Mohammad Ishaq (Pakistan), Neusa Jessen (Mozambique), Siska Danny (Indonesia), Kazutoshi Miyashita (Japan), Vikas Kapil (UK), Tshewang Gyeltshen (Bhutan), Evi Christofidou (UK)
  • 5th row from left to right: Adrian Stanley (UAE), Manja Zec (Serbia/USA), Tatuso Shimosawa (Japan), Lebo Gafane-Matemane (South Africa), Dinesh Neupane (Nepal / USA), Kei Asayama (Japan), Ayodipupo Oguntade (Nigeria), Karla Neves (Brazil / UK)
  • 6th row from left to right: Praew Kotruchin (Thailand), Dagmara Hering (Poland), Adam Greenstein (UK), Mariane Bertagnolli (Canada), Chloé Landry (Canada), Yook-Chin Chia (Malaysia), Shariful Islam (Australia), David Cardona Muller (Mexico)
  • 7th row from left to right: Chukwuemeka, Nwokocha (Jamaica), Pablo Ortiz (USA), Lingkan Barua (Bangladesh), Nicolás Renna (Argentina), Akira Nishiyama (Japan), Tawfik Albassam (Saudi Arabia), Lizzy Brewster (Netherlands), Udaya Ralapanawa (Sri Lanka)
  • 8th row from left to right: Abid Amin Khan (Pakistan), Rikeish Muralitharan (Australia), Carina Mels (South Africa), Tiny Masupe (Botswana), Quynh Nhu Dinh (Australia), Yuqing Zhang (China), Betty Twumasi-Ankrah (Ghana), Hae-Young Lee (South Korea)
  • 9th row from left to right: Zhiyi Ma (China), Matias Gabriel Zanuzzi (Argentina), Priscilla Prestes (Australia), James Eales (UK), Pensee Wu (UK), Mirakhmadjon Mirmaksudov (Uzbekistan), Juliana Kagura (South Africa), Abhinav Gupta (India)
  • 10th row from left to right: Praveen Veerabhadrappa (USA), Colin Sumners (USA), Ghazi Haji (Iraq), Rodrigo Maranon (Argentina), Lance Dworkin (USA), Débora Simões de Almeida Colombari (Brazil), Stefano Taddei (Italy)