Prestigious award for WCM-Q doctor and student team

A doctor and a student at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) have received a prestigious award for their research into the relationship between calcium deposits in coronary arteries and high blood pressure, it has been announced.Dr Mohamed B Elshazly, cardiologist and assistant professor of medicine at WCM-Q, and Amal Abdellatif, who is in the final year of her medical degree, were presented with the Paul Dudley White International Scholar at Scientific Sessions award for their work on arterial calcium deposits, hypertension and coronary heart disease. The award is given to the highest ranked international abstracts at scientific sessions of the American Heart Association, with the ranking performed by independent cardiovascular researchers.In collaboration with international researchers, the pair examined whether the presence of calcium deposits in coronary arteries are an indication that doctors should intervene with intensive hypertension treatment to prevent future heart disease, even when other high-risk factors like old age, diabetes and chronic kidney disease are not present.Working with scientists at a number of international institutions, including Johns Hopkins Hospital and the National Institute for Prevention and Cardiovascular Health in Ireland, Amal and Dr Elshazly performed the research at WCM-Q using the US’s multiethnic study of atherosclerosis (MESA) database.MESA is a study funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute that examines early atherosclerosis – a condition where the arteries narrow through a build-up of plaque.The research was presented at a scientific session of the American Heart Association, which is the largest annual cardiovascular medicine conference in the world. The research involved examining the records of 1,859 participants with stage one hypertension who are included on the MESA database. Just over half were male and the participants had an average age of 63 years. The research found that the presence of coronary artery calcium, particularly a score greater than 100, does increase the risk of suffering from cardiovascular disease in patients with mild hypertension.Dr Elshazly, himself an alumnus of WCM-Q, said: “This is the first MESA study to be performed by Qatar investigators. It is an important example of how global the process of research has become. Dr Elshazly added, “Amal and I would like to thank all the co-authors and investigators, especially our statistician at the biostatistics core at WCM-Q, Soha Dargham, and our senior investigator, Dr John McEvoy. We would like to thank the other investigators, the staff and  participants of the MESA study for their valuable contributions.”