NEW ORLEANS

The National Institutes of Health has given Tulane University $11 million to continue research on kidney function and high blood pressure a major problem in Louisiana, and the principal cause of kidney failure.

One in four Louisiana residents, and one in three of its black residents, have high blood pressure. That compares to one in six people nationwide.

The five-year grant will help Tulane hire junior faculty members by assuring them that their work will be underwritten, said Luis Gabriel Navar, co-director of the Tulane Hypertension and Renal Center of Excellence.

Once those scientists are able to win their own grants, the program will use the grant to hire more young scientists, Navar said.

The center is at Tulane, but its 50 or so scientists also come from Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center and Ochsner Health System. They include pediatricians, pharmacologists and specialists in internal medicine and public health.

The grant, which will provide nearly $2.2 million each year. The center's first five-year grant from NIH, in 2002, was for $10.8 million.

Information from: The Times-Picayune, http://www.timespicayune.com


- Associated Press

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