29th Annual Scientific Meeting

Jaye Chin-Dusting's Report - December 2007

When attending any conference (International or National) these days, I consider it worth the time when I can walk away with having heard a couple of outstanding plenaries and having gleaned a couple of new ideas for my own work. By this criterion, the 29th Annual Scientific Meeting held in conjunction with the ASCEPT-SEAWP meeting at the Adelaide Hilton last week was for me (and I hope for most of you) an outstanding success. The joint sessions on Oxidative Stress and Cardiovascular Genetics with ASCEPT-SEAWP saw international invite speakers the caliber of Stavros Selemedis (ASCEPT), our (my) own Greg Dusting, Julie Chan (Taiwan), Toru Nabika (Japan) and HBPRCA President Stephen Harrap mix it up with free oral communications from council members. The Austin Doyle Lecturer Ian Fraser delivered the sort of talk that I wish I could wrap up and take home to all researchers, students and our external stakeholders. It was an inspiring and generous presentation delivered with sincerity and what I marveled at most given Ian must be one of the most sought after speakers in the country – freshness. “The little prick” deserves all the accolades received thus far. Tien Wong, our Colin Johnston lecturer delivered a dynamic and accessible presentation on the “window to our circulation” and Guido Grassi, our most charming invited speaker from Milan delivered his RD Wright presentation on the neurogenic basis for hypertension with convincing flair.

This year we also had 3 “special lectures” where exceptions to the programme had been made for exceptional reasons. These gave an intellectual and scientific depth and gravitas to the meeting, which this year, quite without prior deliberation became very much a meeting of research translation and clinical application. The current president of ISH, Lars Lindholm “cut the crap and showed us his willy” by emphatically arguing that beta-blockers should no longer be first-line anti-hypertensive therapy, John Chalmers, presenting on behalf of many members of council revealed the findings of the ADVANCE trial (Lancet, 2007) and Paul Korner gave us a glimpse of the analytical prowess behind his book “Éssential Hypertension and Its Causes”. I bought a copy for the lab when it was first released and can verify that we dip into it often as a guiding tool.

The quality of the meeting never let slip with the young investigators in particular giving the experienced a run for their money. Tim Burton, BHS award winner impressed with his talk on the aldosterone response pathway. Claudia McCarthy (Monash University), student oral prize winner, won the award to go to the British Hypertension Society in an outstanding session of student presentations, Rae Chi Huang (University of Western Australia) was a double gold medalist winning the early career scientist oral award as well as the Robert Vandongen award, Sonja Tesanovic (Monash University) won the Student Moderated poster prize and Angela Makris (Heart Research Institute) the Clinical Science prize.

Memorable moments included Daniel Talmont’s off the cuff presentation to our student body where he generously offered them his services as mentor into a career in industry, his tango on the dance floor with our Corporate Liaison Louise Burrell, Michael Stowasser playing split personalities to chair his own talk in the genetics session and Ian Puddey landing a one-two in response to Brian Morris’ criticisms of his paper. It was a typically robust meeting, lightened with many moments of levity and collegiality. In my capacity as Program Secretary, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their wonderful support and participation these past 3 years and to wish the new Program Secretaries Kate Denton and Markus Schlaich all the very best in their future roles.

 

28th Annual Scientific Meeting

Jaye Chin-Dusting's Report

What a lot of fun! For me, the 28th Annual Scientific Meeting of the HBPRCA held in Brisbane last week was a memorable stand-out not only for the excellent science and robust discussions but indeed because I can't remember when I last had such a lot of fun at a conference. Kudos to the local organisers, Malcolm West and Michael Stowasser for the provision of such a relaxed backdrop - Brisbane sure is a happening place.

The Science - Top of the pops was the RD Wright Lecture delivered with such class by Prof Friedrich Luft. Prof Luft took us all on a research journey in search of the genetic link between short digits and high blood pressure. The masterly telling of his story reminded us all what curiosity, sheer tenacity but mostly, intellectual imagination can yield. His approach, for me, truly highlights the best of what we are all trying to do. No doubt many will, like me, now await with bated breath for the final chapter in this sleuthing exercise. Prof Luft also showed the way with his staying interest throughout the entire meeting, and his thoughtful questions, all clearly provoked by genuine intellectual curiosity. A/Prof Mark Febbraio, the CI Johnston Lecturer, impressed with his vibrancy while Austin Doyle Lecturer Prof John Mattick whizzed us through a labyrinth of genetic biology.

Members of the council responded with equal fervour and robustness - highlights of which included the various Award Finalists sessions. The HBPRCA/BHS award (an invited talk at the BHS summer conference) went to Early Career Investigator James Sharman (University of Queensland), the Clinical Science Award to Rohit Ramchandra (Howard Florey Institute), the Students Oral Award to Amanda Sampson (Monash University) and the Poster Award to Ngan Huynh (Baker Heart Research Institute). Emma Mead, the BHS awarded investigator delivered her talk on kisspeptins with aplomb and proved herself another worthy ambassador for the BHS. Top of the many positive comments I received pertained to the moderated poster sessions, - which drew remarkably large audiences, all fascinated with how much information one can convey in 3 minutes. It is not with a little pride that I share with you Friedrich Lufts' comments on how favourably impressed he was with the scientific calibre displayed by all at the meeting.

In closing this wrap up of the scientific section - can I ask that all members of the council mull over how we can top this year's conference; nominations for our 2007 Invite Lecturers are now being sought.

The fun - where do I begin? I confess I was not present at all the happenings but my network tells me that social highlights included a marriage proposal at Australia Zoo (a big hug and all our very best wishes to young Emma Mead), karaoke at the local pub - I understand that Roger Evans and Harald Schmidt gave performances to die for and a Bar-B-Q dinner which led to a hunt for a very special undergarment (for those in the know - I'll say no more; for those not in the know - there's a clue in the photo archives).

That's it from me. Take it easy on the roads and compliments of the season to you all.

27th Annual Scientific Meeting

Jaye Chin-Dusting's Report

The 2005 HBPRCA Annual Scientific Meeting (Dec 7-9th, Bio21 Melbourne) came and went with aplomb. It opened with a clinical session (Wednesday evening) on the Treatment of High Blood Pressure in the Complicated Patient (speakers: Mark Nelson, Karen Duggan, Mark Cooper) and a terrific update on evidence-based clinical trials delivered by Lawrie Beilin; talks which were well received by the 50-60 members of the audience who participated in robust discussions around the practical realities of the patient-doctor interface.

The meeting proper started off in an invigorating session chaired by Wally Thomas and featuring a great mix of members from the council ranging from students Nicola Smith and Jennifer Irvine to senior members the calibre of Di Nicolantonio and Christine Wright to an international participant Moe Kway Thu from Singapore. This egalitarian mix of presenters was reflected in almost all the sessions and allowed for great discussion of science without rank limitations. The Genetic Mouse Model Session followed and led into what proved to be the highlight of the meeting, the RD Wright Lecture delivered by Anna Dominiczak (Glasgow). The lecture was a tour de force and left many in the audience reeling from the sheer breadth and depth of the topic covered. Anna’s contribution to the rest of the meeting was also second to none and indeed infectiously increased the level of audience participation substantially. The Colin I Johnston Lecturer, Shaun Jackson and the Austin Doyle Lecturer, Terry Dwyer completed the trifecta. The Foundation Fellows also played no small part in contributing to the high quality of the meeting and the late but well-received presentation by Helena “just in the nick of time” Teede added a lightened bit of drama at the end of a long but satisfying day.
The two moderated poster sessions, chaired by Greg Dusting and Geoff Head, were memorable a) for successfully turning the focus back onto poster sessions; b) for reminding us all the supreme skill required for succinctly forwarding the gist of a presentation and c) for generating audience, and most pleasing, student participation during question time. We will endeavour to get the acoustics and visuals correct in future meetings but a big thank you to all presenters for gamely going through their strides in what was essentially a programming experiment. Congratulations to Ravina Ravi, Monash University (Young Investigator Poster Prize) and Morag Young, Prince Henry’s (Clinical Science New Investigator Winner) for their well-deserved wins. The contenders for the Young Investigators Oral Prize knew that the bar had been set following the invite presentation by British Hypertension Society winner Carmel McEniery, but indeed they all rose to the occasion magnificently with their own papers. There is only ever a single winner in any race however, and young Enzo Porello (Melbourne Uni/Baker Heart Research Inst), walked away with the reciprocal invite to the 2006 BHS conference. Congratulations are also due to Rai-Chi Huang for winning the Robert Vandongen Award.

It only remains for me to thank everyone for their warm and enthusiastic participation in what was a collegiate but lively meeting. I am reminded of a remark made to me 15 years ago by a senior member of council at my first presentation to the society - to be warned: that the HBPRCA was not a battle-ground but neither was it play-school - and indeed the level of critical interest from all members of council shown at this 2005 meeting assures that the bar remains set. Personal thanks to Stephen Harrap for his guidance; meetingsfirst for their hard yakka and other members of the Exec Committee for their contribution.