Mega Febrianora, MD (Indonesia)

1. Tell us about yourself.

My name is Mega Febrianora. I am a cardiologist consultant in cardiovascular prevention and rehabilitation from Indonesia.

2. What are your research interests?

I have had a long-standing interest in hypertension research since 2014 and have been following ISH and APSH meetings since 2015. Aside from hypertension, I am also interested in genomic science. However, the genomics research is still limited in Indonesia.

3. What are you working on right now?

I am working as a clinician, a preventive cardiologist, also a researcher. Currently, I am an investigator involved in national hypertension research with the Indonesian Heart Association, and I am a Non-Communicable Disease Consultant, too.

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

Conducting genomic hypertension research in Indonesia. Indonesia has a Biomedical and Genome Science initiative by the Ministry of Health Republic of Indonesia. We are now transforming our healthcare system and this is our step to precision medicine in Indonesia.

5. What challenges have you faced in your career to date?

Being a physician-scientist is not easy in Indonesia, you have to manage your time tightly and balance your life, too. And I am also struggling in the early stage of my career. Hopefully, everything will ultimately run well.

6. Which of your publications are you proudest of and why?

My latest hypertension research that was shortlisted for the Austin Doyle Award at the ISH Kyoto 2022 meeting! The research conclude that atrial fibrillation was associated with a higher incidence of death in hemodialysis patients with cardiovascular disease. (DOI: 10.1097/01.hjh.0000914104.31273.5b)

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

I like this manuscript published in Nature Reviews Cardiology entitled Genomics of hypertension: the road to precision medicine. (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41569-020-00466-4), which looked at current knowledge around blood pressure genomics.

8. What are your passions outside of work?

I love working! I spend most of my time at work. Outside of work? I read books.