Preface for the Joint Proceedings of the High Blood Pressure Research 2011 Scientific Sessions and the Inter-American Society of Hypertension Meeting

As program chairs of the 2011 High Blood Pressure Research Scientific Sessions sponsored by the American Heart Association Councils for High Blood Pressure Research and Kidney in Cardiovascular Disease and the InterAmerican Society of Hypertension (IASH), we are pleased to report that the meeting was an outstanding success. The conference was held on September 20 to 24 at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Resort in Orlando, Florida. A very special aspect of this year's meeting was that, for the first time, it was cosponsored and co-organized by IASH. The program committees were combined, and the conference was organized as a fully integrated meeting with the overall important theme, “Bridging Basic and Translational Hypertension Research in the Americas.” This jointly sponsored meeting encouraged an even larger than usual participation of clinicians and researchers from Latin America in the excellent scientific program. The scientific program covered the latest developments in our understanding of the causes of hypertension; its relationship to stroke, cardiac disease, and kidney dysfunction; and the most effective means for detecting, evaluating, and treating high blood pressure across diverse populations. The conference is widely recognized as the premier scientific meeting on hypertension in the world, and the mix of attendees reflected that fact: nearly 40% of the participants were from 30 countries other than the United States. We are particularly happy to report that overall attendance at the conference was 820, the largest in the history of the meeting and the largest participation by Latin American investigators.In addition to the ample opportunities for free communications presented as talks and posters, the meeting was expanded to include multiple symposia and workshops replacing the single-topic workshop traditionally held on the first day. These covered topics such as “Renin: The Final Frontier”; “Genetics and Environment: Epidemiology of Hypertension in the Americas”; “Sympathetic …