Two of India’s leading experts in cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention and control has been elected to the helm of the World Heart Federation. Professor Srinath K Reddy, took over as the President and Professor Salim Yusuf, as President Elect, effective as of January 1, 2013.
Professor Reddy is regarded as a global leader in preventive cardiology and a thought leader in global public health and is currently the President of the Public Health Foundation in India (PHFI). Professor Yusuf is Professor of Medicine and Executive Director of the Population Health Research Institute at McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences, where he has established an international programme of research in CVD and prevention involving 85 countries.
Immediate Past President, Prof. Sidney C Smith Jr, MD said, “Professors Reddy and Yusuf’s thought leadership and pioneering approaches to CVD science and its direct application to health policies will strongly position and enable the World Heart Federation to combat the world’s number one killer – CVD – which causes 17.3 million deaths each year. Their expertise will lead to new strategies, not simply follow existing approaches.”
Commenting on his goals and strategies for reducing CVDs as the head of World Heart Federation, Professor Reddy said, “I will particularly prioritise action on high blood pressure and tobacco which are the foremost risk factors for global disease and disability, and especially focus health promotion and disease prevention among young persons and women.”
Professor Yusuf said, “I am committed to working together with the World Heart Federation board, its member organizations, partners, staff and supporters and with a new generation of emerging leaders worldwide to realizing the vision that within two decades we can reduce CVD burden by over 50 per cent”.
Proessor Salim Yusuf’s presidential term will start in January 2015.
EH News Bureau
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