St George Hospital medical director, Professor Mark Brown, has received a lifetime achievement award in pregnancy hypertension, at a global congress in Amsterdam.
Professor Brown, of Bangor, is the recipient of the Chesley Award at the 2018 Congress of the International Society of Hypertension in Pregnancy.
The award is given to a member in recognition of their sustained and substantial contribution to research in preeclampsia – not only for their individual work, but also for encouraging the work of others.
The former president of the International Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy is the second Australian to receive the honour, and only 17 people in total have been named winners.
In June this year, he also received a Member of the Order of Australia.
“What is particularly inspiring about this award is that it acknowledges the support Mark has provided to his colleagues to excel in this area of research,” hospital general manager Leisa Rathborne said.
“We are fortunate to have Mark as a dedicated member of staff.”
Professor Brown, who stepped down a chairman of the society in 2017, presented research being done at St George Hospital on a global platform.
For the first time, guidelines that aim to improve the health outcomes of pregnancy women in disadvantaged parts of the world, were shared in these regions.
“The society put out guidelines as to how women with high blood pressure should be managed, in areas including Africa and parts of India, where death rates from pregnancy are so high,” he said.
“We’re hoping to get a more uniformed international approach to treatment in countries that haven’t had these guidelines before.
“These are very simple things in antenatal care, like educating the community to take their blood pressure, urine tests, and being able to provide blood pressure machines – things that we take for granted in our own health system.
“Once they can identify who is at higher risk, they can then transfer them to the places where they can get the appropriate care.”
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