New chair to focus on hypertension prevention and control

Calgary, AB – The Canadian Hypertension Society (CHS), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Canada’s Research-based Pharmaceutical companies (Rx&D), sanofi-aventis and Blood Pressure Canada (BPC) are jointly providing $900,000 over five years to fund the first Canadian Chair in Hypertension Prevention and Control. Dr Norm Campbell, MD, FRCPC, from the University of Calgary, is the recipient.

The chair’s mission is to improve awareness, prevention and control of hypertension by interaction with federal and provincial health care agencies and providers as well as the community at large.

Dr Campbell will adopt a multi-faceted approach toward the primary prevention of hypertension and improvement in the treatment of those in whom the disease cannot be prevented. He will expand the Canadian Hypertension Education Program (CHEP); develop a comprehensive national surveillance program for hypertension; increase public awareness of hypertension; and lobby to eliminate indiscriminate addition of salt by the public food sector.