Overview
Background
MS has >30 years of clinical research experience in pathogenesis and management of hypertension (HT) and especially of endocrine varieties including primary aldosteronism (PA). Working within the Greenslopes Hospital Hypertension Unit (GHHU), he played a significant role in the demonstration that PA is much more common than previously thought, and in the description of a new familial form (FH-II). MS has made key contributions to understanding of steroid and BP regulation in another familial form (FH-I). The combined GHHU/Princess Alexandra Hospital HT Unit (PAHHU, which MS set up in 2000) has the largest series (>2000) worldwide of patients with PA who have been thoroughly documented and meticulously studied, helping MS to become internationally recognized as an authority on pathogenesis (including genetics), diagnostic workup and management of PA, including its familial forms. In 2006, he was invited to be a member of an international Task Force sponsored by the US Endocrine Society to develop clinical guidelines for the diagnosis and management of PA.
As at October 2018, MS had published or in press 205 full papers in peer-reviewed journals, 15 chapters for textbooks of medicine (including DeGroot's Endocrinology) and four on-line chapters (including one for Harrison's Online). According to ISI Web of Knowledge, MS’s journal publications have been cited >7000 times. Fifteen have been cited >100 times, one of these >900 (“h” index 44). He has been invited to speak at major meetings 120 times (84 international, 36 national) since 1998 including a debate with Norman Kaplan on the prevalence of PA (ISH, Prague 2002). He was invited by the University of WA to give the Robert Vandongen Memorial Lecture for 2002 and by the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand to deliver the Gaston-Bauer Lecture in 2012. MS has collaborated with researchers in 14 international Units and all Australian states. In 2002, he was named as a Chief Investigator within a newly established Clinical Centre of Research Excellence (CCRE) in Cardiovascular Disease and Metabolic Disorders at Princess Alexandra Hospital, funding for which was renewed by the NHMRC in 2006 for 2007-11. In 2018 he became one of six international investigators to head a Transatlantic Network of Excellence investigating Potassium and Hypertension funded by the Leducq Foundation. Has served on Editorial Boards for J Hypertens, Clin Exper Physiol Pharmacol, Nephrology (Subject Editor), J Clin Endocrinol Metab and J Hum Hypertens (Co-Editor) and assessed manuscripts for >20 major international journals. Has served as written grant application assessor for six major international and five major national funding bodies, on NHF Grant Interviewing Committees in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2002, and on NHMRC GRPs in 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011. MS is a member of the International Society of Hypertension (ISH), American Society of Hypertension and US Endocrine Society. He was elected into the Executive Committee of the High BP Research Council of Australia in 1998, as Secretary in 2001 and as President in 2017. He also served as President of the Asia-Pacific Society of Hypertension in 2019. He was a Member of the NHF BP and Vascular Disease Advisory Committee from 1998 until 2012.
Other Awards and Honours:
NHMRC Postgraduate Medical Research Scholarship, 1992-94 John W.H. Tyrer Prize for Research in Internal Medicine, 1992 NHF Clinical Research Fellowship, 1995-97 NHF Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1998-99 Honorary Professor to the Xinjiang Institute of Hypertension, 2005 Member, Primary Aldosteronism Guidelines Task Force, US Endocrine Society, 2006 Visiting Professor, Tung Wah Eastern Hospital, Hong Kong, 2008 Honorary Professor of the Hypertension Department at Henan Provincial People’s Hospital, the Hypertension Control and Research Center of Henan Province, and the Hypertension Diagnosis and Treatment Center of Henan Province, 2009 Gaston Bauer Lecturer, Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand, 2012
Availability
- Professor Michael Stowasser is:
- Available for supervision
- Media expert
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Bachelor (Honours) of Medicine Surgery, The University of Queensland
- Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland
- Royal Australasian College of Physicians, Royal Australasian College of Physicians
Research interests
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Determining the genetic basis for FH-II and other forms of primary aldosteronism
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Improving methods of detection, diagnostic workup and management of primary aldosteronism
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Validating a highly accurate method of measuring aldosterone using tandem mass spectrometry developed within the EHRC
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Determining genetic factors which may modify phenotypic expression in FH-I, and thereby explain the wide spectrum of hypertens
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Determining the extent to which aldosterone excess in humans is capable of causing cardiovascular and other organ dysfunction in
Research impacts
Hypertension (high blood pressure) affects around 30% of Australian adults, and is a leading risk factor for stroke. Treatment usually means lifelong medications, potentially costly and poorly tolerated. However, when the cause can be identified, and reversed or specifically treated, the outcomes are often dramatic with patients being able to come off many or all antihypertensives and enjoying markedly improved quality of life, while at the same time reducing their stroke risk.
The Endocrine Hypertension Research Centre (EHRC), a University of Queensland School of Medicine Centre based at Greenslopes and Princess Alexandra Hospitals, conducts internationally acclaimed research into the causes and management of various forms of hypertension, with a major focus on curable and specifically treatable varieties. It is the only Centre of its kind in Queensland and one of only a few internationally recognized Australian groups dedicated to hypertension-related clinical management and research. An important area of our work, for which the Centre has attracted much attention, has been our detailed studies into epidemiological, biochemical, morphological, pathophysiological and genetic aspects of a potentially curable form of hypertension known as primary aldosteronism (PA), in which the adrenal glands produce excessive amounts of salt retaining hormone (aldosterone). The EHRC demonstrated 20 years ago that PA is approximately ten times more common than previously thought, and accounts for as many as 10% of patients with hypertension. This finding has led to the identification of thousands of patients around the world who would otherwise have gone undetected, and in whom hypertension has been cured or markedly improved following surgical or specific medical treatment. More than 2000 thoroughly studied and documented patients with PA (probably the largest series worldwide) in our Centre provide a unique resource for further research into causes, diagnosis and treatment, and have led to important collaborations with first-class overseas investigators.
Research at the EHRC and elsewhere has shown that aldosterone excess in unrecognised PA is associated with significant cardiovascular morbidity which exceeds that due to hypertension alone. For example, the risk of stroke in PA is over four times higher than that for other forms of hypertension. In one rare familial form of PA, detectable by a genetic test developed in our Centre, hypertension can be particular severe and of early onset, leading to death at ages as young as 30 from hypertensive, haemorrhagic stroke. Because this increase risk is completely reversed by specifically treating the PA condition, it is vitally important that as many patients as possible with PA be identified among the hypertensive population. Major challenges exist in accurate diagnosis of PA, prompting our Centre to research better ways to achieve this, including through genetic testing and enhanced clinical and biochemical approaches, so that more people will be detected and given the opportunity to receive superior, highly effective treatment.
Among its many other projects, the Centre is actively involved in unlocking the genetic and molecular code of another form of hypertension known as Gordon syndrome (named after the Centre’s founder, Richard Gordon) which results in excessive retention of salt and potassium by the kidney. This work has the potentially to greatly enhance our understanding of how the kidney regulates salt balance and blood pressure, and to lead to the development of new drugs to treat hypertension and thereby prevent stroke.
Works
Search Professor Michael Stowasser’s works on UQ eSpace
2021
Journal Article
Aldosterone, gut microbiome and hypertension: selected papers from APCH 2019
Stowasser, Michael (2021). Aldosterone, gut microbiome and hypertension: selected papers from APCH 2019. Journal of Human Hypertension, 35 (2), 109-109. doi: 10.1038/s41371-020-00481-5
2021
Journal Article
Relationship between the aldosterone-to-renin ratio and blood pressure in young adults: A longitudinal study
Yang, Jun, Gwini, Stella May, Beilin, Lawrence J., Schlaich, Markus, Stowasser, Michael, Young, Morag J., Fuller, Peter J. and Mori, Trevor A. (2021). Relationship between the aldosterone-to-renin ratio and blood pressure in young adults: A longitudinal study. Hypertension, 78 (2), 387-396. doi: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.121.17336
2021
Journal Article
Aldosterone and Primary Aldosteronism: Star Performers in Hypertension Research
Stowasser, Michael (2021). Aldosterone and Primary Aldosteronism: Star Performers in Hypertension Research. Hypertension, 78 (3), 747-750. doi: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.121.17594
2020
Journal Article
The Primary Aldosteronism Surgical Outcome Score for the Prediction of Clinical Outcomes After Adrenalectomy for Unilateral Primary Aldosteronism
Burrello, Jacopo, Burrello, Alessio, Stowasser, Michael, Nishikawa, Tetsuo, Quinkler, Marcus, Prejbisz, Aleksander, Lenders, Jacques W. M., Satoh, Fumitoshi, Mulatero, Paolo, Reincke, Martin and Williams, Tracy Ann (2020). The Primary Aldosteronism Surgical Outcome Score for the Prediction of Clinical Outcomes After Adrenalectomy for Unilateral Primary Aldosteronism. Annals of Surgery, 272 (6), 1125-1132. doi: 10.1097/SLA.0000000000003200
2020
Journal Article
The Cl−/HCO3− exchanger pendrin is downregulated during oral co-administration of exogenous mineralocorticoid and KCl in patients with primary aldosteronism
Wu, Aihua, Wolley, Martin J., Wu, Qi, Gordon, Richard D., Fenton, Robert A. and Stowasser, Michael (2020). The Cl−/HCO3− exchanger pendrin is downregulated during oral co-administration of exogenous mineralocorticoid and KCl in patients with primary aldosteronism. Journal of Human Hypertension, 35 (10), 837-848. doi: 10.1038/s41371-020-00439-7
2020
Journal Article
The role of exercise in patients with obesity and hypertension
Keating, Shelley E., Coombes, Jeff S., Stowasser, Michael and Bailey, Tom G. (2020). The role of exercise in patients with obesity and hypertension. Current Hypertension Reports, 22 (10) 77, 77. doi: 10.1007/s11906-020-01087-5
2020
Journal Article
Biochemical, histopathological and genetic characterization of posture responsive and unresponsive APAs
Guo, Zeng, Nanba, Kazutaka, Udager, Aaron, McWhinney, Brett C., Ungerer, Jacobus P. J., Wolley, Martin, Thuzar, Moe, Gordon, Richard D., Rainey, William E. and Stowasser, Michael (2020). Biochemical, histopathological and genetic characterization of posture responsive and unresponsive APAs. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 105 (9), e3224-e3235. doi: 10.1210/clinem/dgaa367
2020
Conference Publication
Relationship between the hypothalmic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis activity and the characteristics of aldosterone-producing adenomas
Thuzar, Moe, Lo, Yu-Chin, Guo, Zeng, Inder, Warrick J. and Stowasser, Michael (2020). Relationship between the hypothalmic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis activity and the characteristics of aldosterone-producing adenomas. 22nd European Congress of Endocrinology, Online, 5 - 9 September 2020. Bristol, United Kingdom: Bioscientifica. doi: 10.1530/endoabs.70.aep47
2020
Journal Article
Effects of ramipril on the aldosterone/renin ratio and the aldosterone/angiotensin II ratio in patients with primary aldosteronism
Guo, Zeng, Poglitsch, Marko, Cowley, Diane, Domenig, Oliver, McWhinney, Brett C., Ungerer, Jacobus P J, Wolley, Martin and Stowasser, Michael (2020). Effects of ramipril on the aldosterone/renin ratio and the aldosterone/angiotensin II ratio in patients with primary aldosteronism. Hypertension, 76 (2), 488-496. doi: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.120.14871
2020
Journal Article
Can unilateral forms of primary aldosteronism be excluded with confidence preoperatively by methods other than adrenal venous sampling? The search continues
Stowasser, Michael (2020). Can unilateral forms of primary aldosteronism be excluded with confidence preoperatively by methods other than adrenal venous sampling? The search continues. Journal of Hypertension, 38 (7), 1259-1261. doi: 10.1097/HJH.0000000000002417
2020
Journal Article
Measurement of equilibrium angiotensin II in the diagnosis of primary aldosteronism
Guo, Zeng, Poglitsch, Marko, McWhinney, Brett C., Ungerer, Jacobus P. J., Ahmed, Ashraf H., Gordon, Richard D., Wolley, Martin and Stowasser, Michael (2020). Measurement of equilibrium angiotensin II in the diagnosis of primary aldosteronism. Clinical Chemistry Online, 66 (3), 483-492. doi: 10.1093/clinchem/hvaa001
2020
Journal Article
Controversies and advances in adrenal venous sampling in the diagnostic workup of primary aldosteronism
Wolley, Martin, Thuzar, Moe and Stowasser, Michael (2020). Controversies and advances in adrenal venous sampling in the diagnostic workup of primary aldosteronism. Best Practice & Research Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 34 (3) 101400, 101400. doi: 10.1016/j.beem.2020.101400
2020
Journal Article
Managing hypertension during the COVID-19 pandemic
Nadar, Sunil K., Tayebjee, Muzahir H., Stowasser, Michael and Byrd, James Brian (2020). Managing hypertension during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Human Hypertension, 34 (6), 415-417. doi: 10.1038/s41371-020-0356-y
2019
Journal Article
Exercise and sport science Australia position stand update on exercise and hypertension
Sharman, James E., Smart, Neil A., Coombes, Jeff S. and Stowasser, Michael (2019). Exercise and sport science Australia position stand update on exercise and hypertension. Journal of Human Hypertension, 33 (12), 837-843. doi: 10.1038/s41371-019-0266-z
2019
Journal Article
Diagnosis of primary aldosteronism by seated saline suppression test - variability between immunoassay and HPLC-MS/MS
Thuzar, Moe, Young, Karen, Ahmed, Ashraf H., Ward, Greg, Wolley, Martin, Guo, Zeng, Gordon, Richard D., McWhinney, Brett C., Ungerer, Jacobus P. and Stowasser, Michael (2019). Diagnosis of primary aldosteronism by seated saline suppression test - variability between immunoassay and HPLC-MS/MS. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 105 (3) dgz150, e477-e483. doi: 10.1210/clinem/dgz150
2019
Journal Article
Response to letter to the editor: "Comparison of seated with recumbent saline suppression testing for the diagnosis of primary aldosteronism"
Stowasser, Michael, Guo, Zeng, Ahmed, Ashraf, Wolley, Martin and Gordon, Richard D. (2019). Response to letter to the editor: "Comparison of seated with recumbent saline suppression testing for the diagnosis of primary aldosteronism". The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 104 (6), 2344-2345. doi: 10.1210/jc.2019-00179
2019
Journal Article
Pathogenesis of familial hyperaldosteronism type II: new concepts involving anion channels
Stowasser, Michael, Wolley, Martin, Wu, Aihua, Gordon, Richard D., Schewe, Julia, Stoelting, Gabriel and Scholl, Ute I. (2019). Pathogenesis of familial hyperaldosteronism type II: new concepts involving anion channels. Current Hypertension Reports, 21 (4) 31, 31. doi: 10.1007/s11906-019-0934-y
2019
Journal Article
Mineralocorticoid antagonism enhances brown adipose tissue function in humans: a randomized placebo-controlled cross-over study
Thuzar, Moe, Law, W. Phillip, Dimeski, Goce, Stowasser, Michael and Ho, Ken K. Y. (2019). Mineralocorticoid antagonism enhances brown adipose tissue function in humans: a randomized placebo-controlled cross-over study. Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, 21 (3), 509-516. doi: 10.1111/dom.13539
2019
Journal Article
The interplay of renal potassium and sodium handling in blood pressure regulation: critical role of the WNK-SPAK-NCC pathway
Wu, Aihua, Wolley, Martin and Stowasser, Michael (2019). The interplay of renal potassium and sodium handling in blood pressure regulation: critical role of the WNK-SPAK-NCC pathway. Journal of Human Hypertension, 33 (7), 508-523. doi: 10.1038/s41371-019-0170-6
2019
Conference Publication
The effect of rampiril on the aldosterone/renin ratio and aldosterone/andiotensin II ratio in patients with primary aldosteronism: a pilot study
Guo, Z., Cowley, D., Poglitsch, M., McWhinney, B., Ungerer, J., Wolley, M. and Stowasser, M. (2019). The effect of rampiril on the aldosterone/renin ratio and aldosterone/andiotensin II ratio in patients with primary aldosteronism: a pilot study. 29th European Meeting of Hypertension and Cardiovascular Protection of the European-Society-of-Hypertension (ESH), Milan, Italy, 21-24 June 2019. Philadelphia, PA United States: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. doi: 10.1097/01.hjh.0000570668.96581.d2
Funding
Current funding
Past funding
Supervision
Availability
- Professor Michael Stowasser is:
- Available for supervision
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Supervision history
Current supervision
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Doctor Philosophy
Defining The Role Of Mineralocorticoid Receptor In Cardiometabolic Health & Inflammation & Optimising The Diagnostic Approach For Aldosterone-producing Adenoma
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Moe Thuzar
Completed supervision
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2022
Doctor Philosophy
Regulation of sodium chloride cotransporter (NCC) in health and disease
Principal Advisor
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2020
Doctor Philosophy
Histopathological, Biochemical and Genetic Characterization of Different Types of Primary Aldosteronism, Including Validation of a New Angiotensin Assay
Principal Advisor
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2017
Doctor Philosophy
Clinical and Physiological Aspects of Salt Sensitive Hypertension
Principal Advisor
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2012
Doctor Philosophy
The interplay of salt and aldosterone in determining ill-effects of aldosterone excess in the cardiovascular and renal system and stimulating salt appetite
Principal Advisor
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2011
Doctor Philosophy
Primary Aldosteronism-Pharmacological and Physiological Factors influencing diagnosis and management.
Principal Advisor
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2009
Doctor Philosophy
Genetic, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Aspects of Primary Aldosteronism
Principal Advisor
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Doctor Philosophy
GENETICS OF PRIMARY ALDOSTERONISM - FAMILIAL HYPERALDOSTERONISM TYPE II
Principal Advisor
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2003
Doctor Philosophy
Fibromuscular dysplasia of the renal arteries: Studies on aetiology
Associate Advisor
Media
Enquiries
Contact Professor Michael Stowasser directly for media enquiries about:
- Aldosteronism - primary
- Cardiac irregularities
- High blood pressure
- Hyperaldosteronism
- Hypertension
- Hypertension - familial forms
- Pathophysiology
- Phaeochromolytoma
- Renal artery sterosis
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