News Releases

Hypertension Symposium

For Release Upon Receipt - March 1, 2010

Cave Hill


Cave Hill campus’ burnished international reputation for excellence in medical research is about to become even brighter as the Faculty of Medical Sciences prepares to host a two-day symposium on hypertension and vascular disease, following which it expects to gain affiliation to a leading US health organisation as one of its Cardiovascular Centres of Excellence.

The US-based Consortium of Southeastern Hypertension Control (COSEHC) will be in Barbados this month to undertake a site visit for the collaboration. COSEHC is a not-for-profit organisation established to drive cardiovascular health care research and management in the southern belt of the USA.

UWI Lecturer in Pharmacology, Damian Cohall, says residents of that geographical region have a high prevalence of cardiovascular disease – e.g. hypertension and hypertensive complications - with a profile similar to that seen in the Caribbean. He noted that COSEHC undertakes research and disseminate management guidelines for disorders such as strokes, myocardial infarction and other cardiovascular sequelaes associated with hypertension and some synergies could be provided through collaboration with UWI.

UWI hopes through this collaboration to reduce morbidity and mortality from hypertension-related conditions (heart attack and disease, stroke, and kidney failure) in the Caribbean region through improvement in the control of cardiovascular risk factors.  This will be done through clinical research, a UWI mandate which is being enacted principally through the Chronic Disease Research Centre (CDRC.)

UWI is using the occasion of COSEHC’s visit to host the two day lecture symposium on hypertension and end stage vascular disease on March 18 and 19 in the Faculty of Medical’s Sciences new Laboratory and Teaching Complex. It starts each day at 5 p.m. and will feature an opening lecture by Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences Professor Henry Fraser on The History of Hypertension Research in the Caribbean. The highlight presentation will be delivered on the second day by Professor Carlos Ferrario, Professor of Surgical Sciences, Pharmacology and Physiology from the Hypertension and Vascular Research Center, Wake Forrest University School of Medicine on VASCULAR DISEASE AND ITS PATHOGENESIS – A redefining role for Renin Angiotensin System (RAS).

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