Highlights From the American Heart Association's Joint Hypertension 2018 Scientific Sessions

T he 2018 American Heart Association’s (AHA) Council on Hypertension, AHA Council on Kidney in Cardiovascular Disease (KCVD), and the American Society of Hypertension (ASH) combined efforts to host one of the most important joint meetings in cardiovascular disease. This year’s meeting was a remarkable 3-day scientific session developed by program committee members led by Dr Karen Griffin (Hypertension 2018 Programming Chair), for both clinical and basic researchers focusing on recent advances in hypertension research on September 5th to 9th in Chicago, IL. This meeting is a clear exhibit of the Council on Hypertension’s mission “to foster excellence in hypertension research and education” in order to achieve the AHA’s goal “to build healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke.” Attendees had the opportunity to connect with crossdisciplinary researchers and clinicians from around the world who investigate cardiac and kidney disease, stroke, obesity, and genetics in hypertension. A highlight of the meeting is always the interactive trainee sessions designed to benefit trainees and early career investigators, which included a trainee poster session to highlight innovative research and how-to sessions that provided in-depth information about a range of topics related to the study of hypertension. To emphasize a greater clinical focus this year, the Primary Care and Clinical Practice Clinical Science Tracks were added to the program. This joint meeting hosted hundreds of oral and poster presentations on basic, clinical, and population research related to hypertension. Several Council on Hypertension awards for established researchers, new investigators, and young trainees were awarded at the annual meeting, including the Excellence in Hypertension Research Award, the most prestigious award in this field. A number of new and exciting initiatives are planned for the Council in the coming years, including an increased number of concurrent oral sessions, mentoring and outreach programs, increased emphasis on clinical and translational research, hypertension case presentations, and the continued development of the AHA Hypertension Journal–sponsored “Recent Advances in Hypertension” Sessions.