Congratulations to our Two Tall Poppy Award Winners A/Prof. Francine Marques and Dr. Rachel Climie!
Associate Professor Marques is an internationally renowned researcher from the School of Biological Sciences specialising in high blood pressure and manipulation of disease via gut microbes.
Associate Professor Marques won the prestigious American Heart Association Hypertension Council Goldblatt Award in 2019, and was a finalist in 2019 for the Eureka Emerging Leader in Science Prize.
“I am delighted be a Young Tall Poppy Award winner,” said Associate Professor Marques. “I’m trained a molecular geneticist but my research spans from the laboratory to clinical trials.”
“My goal is to discover ways to treat and prevent the development of high blood pressure through manipulating fibre and the gut microbiota.”
Baker Institute postdoctoral researcher Dr Rachel Climie is one of 12 outstanding researchers from Victoria named in the 2020 Young Tall Poppy Science Awards. Rachel is a Heart Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow who works in the Baker Institute’s Sports Cardiology Laboratory with a research focus on vascular ageing. Her research aims to prevent heart disease by examining the gradual damage to blood vessels, known as vascular ageing, which can be identified before overt heart disease becomes apparent.
“Heart disease remains the leading cause of death and disease in Australia and worldwide, causing one death every 12 minutes in Australia. That’s why prevention is critical,” Rachel said. “Evidence shows that heart disease has its roots in childhood, so I’m working to pinpoint the best ways to prevent premature vascular ageing through healthy lifestyle behaviours from early life.”
