Prof John Funder from Southern Health is the third non-American to win the prestigious Novartis Award for his medical research.
By Lia Bichel
A SOUTHERN Health professor has become the 23rd recipient worldwide to receive a prestigious International Research Award for High Blood Pressure research.
Director Research Strategy at Southern Health Professor John Funder accepted his award at a flash ceremony in Atlanta. He is the 23rd recipient and the third non-American to win the Novartis Award.
“I am very honoured to have received the award,” Prof Funder said.
“I have been doing research for 40 years, and it has evolved.”
In 1967, after Prof Funder received his medical degree, he did a PhD at the Melbourne University Howard Florey Institute. His thesis examined the role of adrenal steroids in experimental hypertension in sheep.
Through 40 years of collective research, Prof Funder’s discoveries led to an understanding of the molecular mechanisms and pathways responsible for aldosterone action in normal pathophysiological states.
Prof Funder will continue to discuss his findings by giving talks in Aspen next week and Japan in March. He said he hoped to continue his research and make available his findings in the years to come.
“Life’s busy, I have a million things going on,” he said.
“I would like very much to stay in the field for the next five to 10 years.”
