Award winning presentation at international conference

Dr Jun Yang, a Hudson Institute and SCS early-career researcher and Monash Health consultant endocrinologist, was awarded a Best Oral Presentation Prize at the 27th Scientific Meeting of the International Society of Hypertension (ISH) in Beijing, China.

Dr Yang’s presentation was 'Saline suppression test may predict bilateral subtypes of primary aldosteronism'.  Primary Aldosteronism (PA) is a potentially curable form of high blood pressure caused by the excessive production of aldosterone from the adrenal glands. If the aldosterone is produced by a tumor within one adrenal gland, then surgical resection of the affected adrenal will be beneficial. If the aldosterone is produced by both adrenal glands, then targeted medical therapy with aldosterone-blockers will be highly effective. To work out if one or both adrenal glands are affected, adrenal vein sampling (AVS) is required. 

Unfortunately AVS is an invasive, technically challenging and time-consuming procedure. 

Dr Yang said, “Our research has shown that a blood test used to confirm the diagnosis of PA may reliably predict cases of bilateral disease and therefore allow up to 30 per cent of patients to skip the AVS procedure. This represents a considerable time and cost-saving for both the patient and the health system.”

On winning the award, Dr Yang said she was honoured to meet research leaders in the field of hypertension from all over the world and  pleasantly surprised to receive an award at my first ISH conference. 

“I look forward to collaborating internationally and contributing to the field.” 

During her trip, Dr Yang was invited to give a seminar on her research at the first affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University which has state-of-the-art facilities for measuring aldosterone.

Student award

Fourth year medical student from Melbourne University who worked with Jun as a vacation student at Hudson Institute, Jenny Sung Won Yun, was awarded an international travel award from ISH to present her research on the measurement of sodium and aldosterone in 24 hour urine collections.

Dr Yang’s trip was made possible by a Young Investigator Travel Award from the Foundation for High Blood Pressure Research.