An interdisciplinary team of researchers led by Curt Sigmund of Pharmacology has recently received a grant from the American Heart Association to establish the University of Iowa Strategically Focused Hypertension Research Center. This major award provides funds for the research and training components of the Center in excess of $3.7M over a four-year period beginning April 1, 2015. The focus of the grant is preeclampsia, a cardiovascular disorder causing the death of more than 100,000 women worldwide each year. Individual projects in the grant will involve basic, clinical and population science discovery. Topics of investigation include the molecular mechanisms of preeclampsia and diagnostic biomarkers for predicting preeclampsia in pregnancy. The Principal Investigators of the three scientific projects of the Center are Justin Grobe of Pharmacology (Molecular Mechanisms of Vasopressin-induced Preeclampsia), Gary Pierce of Health and Human Physiology (Early Vascular Dysfunction and Elevated Copeptin in Human Preeclampsia), and Mark Santillan of Obstetrics and Gynecology (Predicting Preeclampsia via Copeptin: Underrepresented Minorities & Synergy with Other Biomarkers). An integral component of the project is a program for the training of fellows in hypertension research. The Center Training Director, Dr. Kimberly Leslie, Chair and DEO of Obstetrics and Gynecology, will be responsible for the recruitment of fellows along with the coordination, implementation and oversight of the training program. Dr. Sigmund is the Center Director responsible for the overall coordination of the scientific projects and the training program.

Procuring this American Heart Association Strategically Focused Hypertension Research CENTER grant award will significantly advance hypertension research at the UI and enhance the national recognition of our cardiovascular research. We congratulate Dr. Sigmund and his team on their major achievement!