High blood pressure is a common health problem and can lead to heart attack, stroke or kidney disease. Current treatment relies on pharmaceuticals, but some patients find that their medication stops having any effect or has no effect even after prolonged treatment.
With the help of a grant supported by our PwC People Giving program, Dr Ming Wei and his team from the Department of Medicine at the University of Queensland are working on a ground-breaking gene-based therapy to relax blood vessels and provide a lasting reduction in blood pressure.
In another exciting project sponsored by PwC People Giving, Dr Anushka Patel from The George Institute for International Health in Sydney is working to ensure that people at risk of heart attack and stroke receive the correct assistance for their particular situation. Currently, there are a number of treatments available that have been shown to be highly effective in preventing heart attack and stroke, however many people are not adequately treated.
Dr Patel’s research will develop and evaluate new strategies for ensuring the appropriate delivery of treatment for individual at-risk patients. This will have a huge impact on the burden of cardiovascular diseases in this country.
We are proud to be assisting The Heart Foundation in vital research into the prevention and causes of heart disease - the most common cause of death in Australia - and other life-threatening conditions.
PwC’s support is playing a major role in the Heart Foundation’s battle against conditions such as cardiomyopathy, which took the life of Matthew Howell at just 31.
| His sister Belinda says, "If we really place value on the most important things in life - our family, our children - if we let those thoughts motivate us then we will use our money to go towards research and finding cures, trying to avoid other families having to go through what we’ve gone through." |
