Drs. Rhian Touyz and Mariane Bertagnolli were honoured by the International Society of Hypertension, and Dr. Abhinav Sharma by the Heart Failure Collaboratory and American Heart Association
SOURCE: RI-MUHC
Nov. 6, 2024
Three researchers from the Cardiovascular Health Across the Lifespan (CHAL) Program at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) have received accolades from international societies this season. Senior Scientist Dr. Rhian Touyz and Mariane Bertagnolli, PhD, a Scientist at the RI-MUHC, received awards from the International Society of Hypertension (ISH), while Dr. Abhinav Sharma, another RI-MUHC Scientist, was honoured by the Heart Failure Collaboratory in collaboration with the American Heart Association.
Dr. Touyz earned the 2024 ISH Robert Tigerstedt Lifetime Achievement Award and Prof. Bertgnolli, the 2024 ISH Outstanding Woman in Hypertension Research Award in the Mid-Career Award category. These awards were presented on September 21 during the International Society of Hypertension World Congress in Cartagena, Colombia. Dr. Sharma was selected for a Top Principal Investigator of the Year Award from the Heart Failure Collaboratory in collaboration with the American Heart Association (AHA). This award will be presented at the AHA Scientific Sessions in Chicago, Illinois (U.S.), on November 17.
Robert Tigerstedt Lifetime Achievement Award
The ISH Awards Committee recognized Dr. Touyz as a world-leading scientist whose research in hypertension has immense impact. The committee appreciated her lifetime contributions to hypertension research, practice, and the ISH, as well as her research leadership. She has made substantial and novel contributions to advance research in hypertension and has an interest in translational research, where her discovery science impacts care of patients with hypertension and cardiovascular disease.
“I am truly honoured and humbled to receive this award,” says Dr. Touyz, who is the Executive Director and Chief Scientific Officer, RI-MUHC, the Dr. Phil Gold Chair in Medicine, McGill University, and Canada Research Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine. “The ISH has been my research home society throughout my career. My first international presentation as a young student was at ISH, and I feel hugely indebted to the society for the enormous support. I am especially proud of having been the first woman president of the society and am so delighted to see the Women in Hypertension Research Network grow and achieve the successes that it has.”
Outstanding Woman in Hypertension Research Award
In the Mid-Career Award category, the ISH Awards Committee recognized Prof. Bertagnolli as a successful cardiovascular scientist whose research focuses on hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and fetal programming. The committee noted her publication of 41 papers with 1,760 citations as well as her invaluable contributions to the ISH New Investigator, Women in Hypertension Research and the Mentoring and Training Committees.
Besides conducting research in the CHAL Program at the RI-MUHC, Prof. Bertagnolli is an Assistant Professor in the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University. “Receiving the 2024 ISH Outstanding Woman in Hypertension Research Award is an incredible honour,” she says. “This award reflects not only my dedication to advancing hypertension research, but also my commitment to fostering a supportive and inclusive environment for women in STEM.”
For Prof. Bertagnolli, participating in the ISH fosters a sense of international community.
“Through my roles in the Mentoring & Training committee at ISH and as a former ambassador of the New Investigator Committee in the Women in Hypertension Research Committee, I've had the privilege of mentoring young investigators and participating in impactful initiatives, workshops, and panels focused on addressing barriers and creating pathways for women in research,” as she explains. “I am proud to be part of a community that values mentorship and collaboration, paving the way for the next generation of scientists.”
Top Principal Investigator of the Year Award
Dr. Sharma’s outstanding performance in several high-profile clinical trials earned him the nomination for Top Principal Investigator of the Year Award from the Heart Failure Collaboratory in collaboration with the American Heart Association. As part of the Site-Based Research Awards series, this award recognizes meritorious achievement in heart failure clinical trials with regard to trial design, execution/enrollment, and/or reporting scientific content, as well as challenges encountered and steps taken to meet the challenge in a trial.
“I would like to thank the RI-MUHC for providing the infrastructure that has enabled me to conduct my own investigator-initiated projects and collaborate with other centres,” says Dr. Sharma. “The clinical trials DECIDE-CV and WEAR-HF are led by our team at the RI-MUHC and are examples of digital health projects. EMPACT-MI was a multinational collaboration and was conducted here at the RI-MUHC, in collaboration with the Centre for Innovative Medicine.”
Dr. Sharma conducts research in the Centre for Outcomes Research and Evaluation at the RI-MUHC and is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at McGill University, as well as Cardiologist at the MUHC. His research group focuses on two themes: cardiovascular outcomes and therapy optimization in patients with diabetes and heart failure; and use of digital health to streamline follow-up and therapy selection in patients with heart failure.
Learn more about the 2024 International Society of Hypertension award winners and about the Heart Failure Collaboratory awards.