Salt of success seasons hypertension research

02 April 2014 | Story by Newsroom
Leading light: Prof Brian Rayner is a 2014 recipient of the Notable Achievement in Hypertension award from the World Hypertension League.
Leading light: Prof Brian Rayner is a 2014 recipient of the Notable Achievement in Hypertension award from the World Hypertension League.

Specialist nephrologist Professor Brian Rayner is the recipient of a 2014 Notable Achievement in Hypertension award, a prestigious international accolade that recognises his research in salt-sensitive hypertension.

The award is made annually - sometimes to two candidates - by the World Hypertension League (WHL). This year's winners will also be honoured in the Journal of Clinical Hypertension.

Rayner is head of the Division of Nephrology/Hypertension in the Department of Medicine at UCT/Groote Schuur Hospital and president of the South African Hypertension Society.

'This gives new recognition to our unit and research work on the international stage,' said Rayner.

He was nominated by Emeritus Professor Lionel Opie of the Hatter Institute for Cardiovascular Research in Africa, in the Department of Medicine, and the departmental head, Professor Bongani Mayosi.

The UCT alumnus is renowned for his ground-breaking work on the genetics underlying salt-sensitive hypertension in black and coloured South Africans. A unique gene '“ thought to have originated among the San people '“ has been linked to this. It makes these population groups more susceptible to strokes and heart disease as they don't excrete salt effectively.

A clinician-scientist, Rayner has been researching the mechanics of hypertension for the past 15 years. He received his PhD in this research in December last year.

Story by Helen Swingler. Image by Michael Hammond.


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