For the one in five Kiwis fighting high blood pressure, it’s a health battle with high stakes. Though the condition can go unnoticed, it’s the single biggest risk factor for cardiovascular disease – New Zealand’s No 1 killer, accounting for almost one in three deaths, according to the Heart Foundation.
On a professional and a personal level, Dr Igor Felippe knows this battle well. A postdoctoral research fellow at Manaaki Mānawa, the Centre for Heart Research at the University of Auckland, he is advancing understanding of high blood pressure and new ways to treat it.
In particular, he’s looking at the massive issue of how to treat hypertension through a tiny sensory organ called the carotid body. About the size of a grain of
