American Society of Hypertension | ASH Distinguished Scientist Award

One ASH Distinguished Scientist Award is given each year depending on the field to which the award recipient has made his or her contribution. The purpose of the ASH Distinguished Scientist Award is to honor a scientist or physician for outstanding achievements in the field of hypertension. The award recipient receives a framed certificate and a $10,000 honorarium. The awardee is also requested to present a 30-minute lecture during the awards session at the ASH Annual Meeting and will receive complimentary registration and reimbursement for travel expenses and hotel accommodations.

Sponsors who wish to have their candidates nominated for an award must be current ASH members and provide the following information:

A candidate may be nominated by one or more different individuals within the same year. Previous winners of the ASH Distinguished Scientist Award and members of the ASH Scientific Awards Committee are not eligble for nomination.

The Awards Committee will assess the candidates' overall scientific contributions and their impact on the field of hypertension.

The ASH Distinguished Scientist Award recipient receives an award within one of these five categories:

William Harvey Award
This award is named for scientist William Harvey (1578- 1657) who developed the first accurate account of how the heart and circulatory system operated.

Richard Bright Award
This award is named for Richard Bright, (1789- 1858). Often referred to as the Father of Nephrology, Dr. Bright is well known for his great contributions to the study of the kidney.

Robert Tigerstedt Award
Robert Tigerstedt (1853- 1923) is recognized as an outstanding contributor to both endocrinology and circulation. He is best known for his discovery of the renin- angiotensin system.

Harriet Dustan Award
This award is named for Harriet P. Dustan, MD (1920 - 1999). Dr. Dustan made many contributions to hypertension in her career of over 40 years. These include her clinical and investigative achievements, especially the concept of essential hypertension as a multifactoral disease of pressure regulation. Dr. Dustan explored many of the pressor mechanisms and related new knowledge to therapeutic concepts.

Irvine Page Award
This award is named for Irvine H. Page, MD (1901 - 1991). In Dr. Page's long research career he made endless discoveries and contributions to the treatment and espousal of hypertension. He may be bast known for the discovery and characterization of angiotensin, the identification of serotonin, and the mosaic theory.

For more information, please contact:
Ashley Buron, Program Coordinator
American Society of Hypertension
148 Madison Avenue, Fifth Floor
New York, NY 10016
Phone: 212.696.9099
Fax: 212.696.0711
E-mail: awards@ash-us.org

2011 ASH Distinguished Scientist Award

The American Society of Hypertension announced the recipient of the ASH Robert Tigerstedt Award, Oscar A. Carretero, MD, FASH. The 2011 Award was presented during the ASH Twenty-Sixth Annual Scientific Meeting during the Awards Plenary Session, which was held on Monday, May 23rd, 2011.

Oscar A. Carretero, MD, FASH
Professor of Medicine, Case Western Reserve
University School of Medicine,
Senior Staff Scientist, Henry Ford Health System
Hypertension and Vascular Research Division
Detroit, MI

Oscar A. Carretero, MD, FASH was born in Mendoza, Argentina and received his degree from the School of Medicine at the University of Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina. Dr. Carretero has contributed greatly to our understanding of the role of vasoactive hormones in the regulation of blood pressure and renal function, as well as the pathogenesis of hypertension and target organ damage (TOD). His research has resulted in over 360 publications. His fundamental contributions began with his initial hypothesis in 1972 that renal kinins may be involved in the regulation of sodium and water excretion, acting as natriuretic and diuretic hormones. His work has contributed uniquely to the understanding of the role of the renal kallikrein-kinin system, ranging from the development of methods to measure the components of the system and its localization to demonstrating that the renal kallikrein-kinin system is natriuretic and diuretic not only in high mineralocorticoid situations but also in the basal state. This work culminated with the demonstration that animals lacking the main kinin receptor (B ₂) develop hypertension when they are fed a high sodium diet. As a pioneer in the field of kinin research, where his contributions have been fundamental, numerous, and of high quality, we now understand that kinins act as paracrine hormones, regulating organ blood flow and renal function, and also participate on the chronic cardiovascular protective effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) and angiotensin resector blockers. He and his colleagues demonstrated that kallikrein in the kidney is produced mainly in the connecting tubule (CNT) and in collaboration with Luciano Barajas they demonstrated that the CNT returns to the glomerulus and makes contact with the afferent arteriole. Recently he demonstrated that there is a crosstalk between the CNT and the afferent arteriole, showing that when sodium is increased in the perfusate of the CNT, the afferent arteriole dilates. They call this cross talk between the CNT and the afferent arteriole connecting tubuloglomerular feedback. This seminal contribution explains why during a sodium load, renal blood flow increases.

Recently he has made another seminal contribution by demonstrating that the endogenous tetrapeptide N-Acetyl-Ser-Asp-Lys-Pro (Ac-SDKP); that is destroyed mainly by ACE; has anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic effects, and also contributes to the cardiovascular and renal protective effect of ACE inhibitors. Furthermore, he discovered that the enzyme prolyl oligopeptidase is involved in the release of Ac-SDKP from the protein thymosin β-4. He has shown that inhibition of this enzyme promotes vascular and renal fibrosis. He and his group have demonstrated that this peptide inhibits fibrosis by a) decreasing inflammation, b) fibroblast proliferation and collagen synthesis, c) TGF expression and d) its TGF signaling (Smad phosphorylation).

In addition, Dr. Carretero has trained numerous investigators in the field of hypertension. Among his distinguished and well-known students are Alberto Nasjletti, Professor of Pharmacology at the Medical College of New York; A Guillermo Scicli, Professor of Medicine Henry Ford Health Sciences, Wayne State University; and Sadayoshi Ito, Chairman and Professor of Medicine, Tohoku University; Luis Juncos, Division Director, Nephrology, University of Mississippi. These are among many who have become important investigators in the field of cardiovascular or renal physiology and medicine.

Dr. Carretero is an active invited international lecturer, and has received many awards including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Inter-American Society of Hypertension and the Novartis award from the Council of High Blood Pressure Research, American Heart Association. He also received a Dr. Honoris Causa from University of Cordoba and a Professor Honoris Causa from the University of Mendoza. He has been Chairman, Council for High Blood Pressure Research of the AHA, and President of the Inter-American Society of Hypertension. He also serves in various NIH study sections and committees and serves on the editorial boards of several scientific journals.