Dr. Alan Tita, University of Alabama-Birmingham, received the Herbert Pardes Clinical Excellence Award from the Clinical Research Forum. Chronic hypertension during pregnancy is associated with greater risks to the mother of death during childbirth, heart attack and stroke, as well as greater risks to the baby such as premature birth, lower birth rate, and perinatal death.

Washington, D.C., May 4, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Clinical Research (CR) Forum, a non-profit membership association of top clinical research experts and thought leaders from the nation's leading academic health centers, awarded its most prestigious honor, The Herbert Pardes Clinical Research Excellence Award, to Dr. Alan Tita of the University of Alabama Birmingham. Dr. Tita's study demonstrated that treating non-severe high blood pressure with approprirate medications during pregnancy was beneficial and safe for women and their babies. These results have had an immediate impact on treatment in the United States.

This study was recognized during the CR Forum's annual Top Ten Clinical Research Achievement Awards, held in Washington, D.C. The Top Ten Awards highlight outstanding research advances that involve both innovation and impact on human diseases. A complete list of the 2020 Top 10 Clinical Research Achievement Awardees, including videos, is available on the organization's website.

‒This year's award winners demonstrate the immense value of our nation's investment in clinical research, and the direct impact of that work on the health of millions of people in the United States,– said Harry P. Selker, MD, MSPH, CR Forum Board Chair and Dean of the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at Tufts University. ‒For many, these innovative studies and related clinical trials may represent the only hope for surviving a life-threatening disease. They also pave the way to advance new therapies and treatments that improve public health.–

The Herbert Pardes Clinical Research Excellence Award, named in honor of CR Forum Board Vice Chair Dr. Herbert Pardes for his profound impact on clinical research and academic medicine, is awarded to the research study that best shows a high degree of innovation and creativity, advances science, and has an impact upon human disease. (Dr. Pardes currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and was the long-time Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University.)

The study, Treatment of Mild Chronic Hypertension in Pregnancy, was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in May 2022. Dr. Tita and his team, members of the Chronic Hypertension and Pregnancy (CHAP) Trial Consortium, showed that pregnant woman with mild hypertension (typically defined as below <160/110 mm Hg) could be treated safely and effectively with current antihypertensive drugs with no increase in risk to the baby. Previously, treating mild hypertension was controversial, out of concerns for the safety of the baby. Typically, only pregnant women with severe hypertension ((defined as above <169/110 mm Hg), were treated.

In the United States, chronic hypertension develops in 2% or more of pregnancies. This condition disproportionately affects Black women and is associated with greater risk of preeclampsia, preterm birth, lower birth weight, and perinatal death. For mothers, the condition is associated with much greater risk of death, heart failure, stroke, pulmonary edema, and acute kidney injury.

The day the study results were announced, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal - Fetal Medicine issued statements recommending treatment of mild hypertension in pregnant women, thus changing clinical practice.

Two additional studies received Distinguished Clinical Research Achievement Awards for their creativity, innovation, and novel approach that demonstrates immediate impact on the health and well-being of patients:

• Safety and Efficacy of a Monoclonal Antibody against Malaria in Mali, nominated by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and represented by Dr. Peter Crompton, Chief of NIAID's Malaria Infection Biology and Immunity Section. This study produced ground-breaking results from a phase 2 trial of a novel approach to prevent malaria. More than 600,000 people die of malaria every year, and 4 in 5 are children. This trial provided the first proof-of-concept that CIS43LS, a monoclonal antibody, can protect from malaria in a 'real world' setting and paves the way for potentially transformative trials of monoclonal antibodies in populations at high-risk for malaria.
• Association of Bariatric Surgery with Cancer Risk and Mortality in Adults with Obesity, nominated by the Cleveland Clinic and represented by Dr. Ali Animian, Director of Bariatric and Metabolic Institute at the Cleveland Clinic and a Professor of Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. Obesity increases the incidence and mortality of some types of cancer, but it remains uncertain whether intentional weight loss can decrease this risk. This study showed that patients who lost weight through bariatric surgery showed a significantly lower risk of obesity-associated cancers and cancer mortality long term (6 to 10 years after surgery), compared to no surgery.

Since 1996, the Clinical Research Forum has enabled the sharing of best practices in clinical research, informed meaningful policy dialogues and increasingly played a national advocacy role in support of clinical research.

Clinical Research Forum congratulates all of the 2023 Top Ten Clinical Research Achievement Award recipients and finalists for groundbreaking, clinical and translational research advances that benefit the health and welfare of all Americans, and reflect the influential work being done by investigators at nearly 60 research institutions and hospitals across the United States, as well as partner institutions around the world.

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About the Top Ten Clinical Research Achievement Awards

Recognizing the need to celebrate our nation's clinical research accomplishments that involve both innovation and impact on human disease, the Clinical Research Forum conducts an annual competition to determine the ten outstanding research accomplishments in the United States. These major research advances represent a portion of the annual return on the nation's investment in the health and future welfare of its citizens.

About the Clinical Research Forum

The mission of the Clinical Research Forum is to provide leadership to the national and clinical translational research enterprise and promote understanding and support for clinical research and its impact on health and healthcare. For more information, visit www.clinicalresearchforum.org.

Pull Quote

‒This year's Top 10 demonstrate the immense value of our nation's investment in clinical research, and the direct impact of that work on the health of millions of people in the U.S. and around the world– said Dr. Harry Selker, Clinical Research Forum Board Chair.

Media Contact

Andrea Van Hook, Clinical Research Forum, 1 202-367-2483, avanhook@clinicalresearchforum.org, www.clinicalresearchforum.org

SOURCE Clinical Research Forum