Hypertension Scientific Sessions 2025

Dan Jones, M.D. has a long association with The University of Mississippi, first as a medical student beginning in 1971 followed by a residency in internal medicine. He became a member of the school of medicine faculty beginning in 1992, then served as Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs and CEO of the University of Mississippi Medical Center and Dean of the University of Mississippi School of Medicine. From 2009-2015, he served as the 16th Chancellor of the University of Mississippi.

Active in the American Heart Association (AHA), Jones was the 2007-2008 national president and for years has served as a national spokesperson on high blood pressure. He also represented the AHA on six national guideline writing groups for high blood pressure and high cholesterol and for heart and stroke prevention. He currently serves as chair of the writing committee for the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association 2025 Blood Pressure Management Guideline.

After a few years of medical practice in rural Mississippi, Jones and his family moved to South Korea in 1985 where he served as a medical missionary for seven years to fulfill a passion for health care service to underserved populations. Following his work in South Korea, while serving the University of Mississippi in various capacities, for more than thirty years, he has served as a medical education consultant to medical schools in North Korea. He has done other medical humanitarian work for shorter periods in Iran, Russia, and China.

His research activities have focused on prevention of cardiovascular disease and racial and economic disparities in health outcomes. He was the founding principal investigator for the Jackson Heart Study, a National Institutes of Health sponsored population study focused on identifying causes of disparate rates of heart disease in African Americans.

Jones is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha National Honor Medical Society and is a Master of the American College of Physicians.

Dr. Cohen is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology in the Renal-Electrolyte and Hypertension Division and Deputy Director of Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research examines physiology-driven pharmacologic effects of antihypertensive medications in high-risk patients.

She is Immediate Past Chair of the AHA’s Hypertension Science Committee and Co-Chair of the American Medical Association’s Blood Pressure Validated Device Listing Independent Review Committee.

Dr. Yvonne Commodore-Mensah is a Professor and Cardiovascular Nurse Epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is the Associate Dean for Research at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, Associate Director, Local/Global Reciprocal Innovation at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity and Core Faculty at the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology, and Clinical Research.

Her research focuses on reducing cardiovascular disease risk among African populations both in the United States and Africa through community-engaged research and implementation science. With expertise in immigrant health, global health, and social determinants of health, Dr. Commodore-Mensah leads groundbreaking studies to improve the health of African-descent populations. She serves as the principal investigator for several significant projects, including the ADHINCRA Program, a randomized control trial addressing hypertension control in Africa, and the LINKED-BP and LINKED-HEARTS Programs, which are cluster-randomized controlled trials implementing multi-level interventions to enhance hypertension control and chronic disease management in primary care settings in the United States.

Her contributions to the field have earned her fellowships and awards from the American Academy of Nursing, American Heart Association, and the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association. Her leadership extends to serving on the boards of several organizations, including the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association, Greater Baltimore and Maryland American Heart Association, Horizon Foundation, and the Nursing is STEM Coalition. Through her research, leadership, mentorship and advocacy, she continues to make significant strides in advancing cardiovascular health equity and promoting better health outcomes for African-descent populations worldwide.

Dr. Ferdinand is Professor of Medicine, Gerald S. Berenson Endowed Chair in Preventative Cardiology, Tulane University School of Medicine. He received his medical degree from the Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, DC. He is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, American Society for Preventive Cardiology, National Lipid Association, and an honorary Fellow of the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association. Ferdinand is past Chair of the National Forum for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention and Chief Science Officer and past chair of the Association of Black Cardiologists (ABC).

He has conducted numerous trials in hypertension, lipids, cardiometabolic risk, and cardiovascular disease - especially in racial/ethnic minorities - with over 350 peer-reviewed publications, edited textbooks and chapters, and lectures nationally and internationally.

Dr. Ferdinand received numerous awards including the AHA Louis B. Russell, Jr. Memorial Award and James B. Herrick Award for Outstanding Achievement in Clinical Cardiology, the Congressional Black Caucus Health Trust for journalism, the Charles Drew Award for medical excellence from the National Minority Quality Foundation, the Wenger Award for Medical Leadership by WomenHeart, the ABC Spirit of the Heart Distinguished Leadership Award, and the Anne C. Goldberg, MD, MNLA Foundation Service Award for excellence in clinical care and education on lipidology. Dr. Ferdinand was honored as a Living Legend Honoree by the Center for African and African American Studies at Southern University at New Orleans.

A defining feature of Dr. Ferdinand’s career is his deep commitment to community service and public engagement. His Healthy Heart Community Prevention Project in New Orleans focuses on early identification of cardiovascular risk factors, patient education, and vaccination outreach.

Dr. Keith C. Ferdinand faithfully served on the prior NHLBI National High Blood Pressure Education Program, multiple national scientific statements and working groups, and is a nationally and internationally recognized leader in cardiovascular medicine.

Sandra J. Taler MD is a Consultant in the Mayo Clinic Rochester Division of Nephrology and Hypertension and a Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine with 37 years of expertise in the treatment of complex hypertension. She received her medical degree from Mayo Medical School, completed her Internal Medicine Residency at Hennepin County Medical Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota and completed fellowships in Hypertension and Nephrology at Boston University Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts.

Dr. Taler has been active in hypertension guidelines at the national level with special expertise in the management of resistant hypertension and the treatment of hypertension in patients with chronic kidney disease. She has received research funding from the NIH and has published more than 120 articles, book chapters, editorials and commentaries on nephrology and hypertension topics. She served on the 2017 ACC/AHA Guideline for the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults Writing Committee, and the 2018 American Heart Association Scientific Statement on Resistant Hypertension Writing Committee. She has been active in the American Heart Association and is a founding member of the AMA initiated Validated Device Listing for affirming accuracy of home blood pressure monitors.

Dr. Whelton is the Show Chwan Chair of Global Public Health at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana and Immediate Past President, World Hypertension League. A University College Cork (UCC)/National University of Ireland (NUI) medical graduate (MB, BCh, BAO), he trained in medicine & nephrology at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, clinical epidemiology at the University of London (MSc), clinical trials conduct at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Clinical Trials Unit in London, and prevention research at UCC/NUI (MD).

His research includes blood pressure -related cardiovascular and kidney disease epidemiology, prevention, clinical trials, and global health. He has chaired many US National Institutes of Health funded multicenter studies, including the Trials of Hypertension Prevention (TOHP), Trial of Nonpharmacologic Interventions in the Elderly (TONE), Antihypertensive and Lipid Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial (ALLHAT), and Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT).

He has also chaired several US clinical practice guidelines, including the 2017 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (AHA) BP Guideline, and contributed to the 2021 WHO BP Treatment Guideline, and 2024 AHA/ASA Stroke Prevention Guideline. A recipient of two Doctor Honoris Causa degrees, he was awarded the AHA Population Research Prize; Excellence in Hypertension Research Award; and Distinguished Scientist Award, and National Kidney Foundation (NKF) David M. Hume Memorial Award.

He has published more than 600 peer reviewed manuscripts and 100 books, chapters, supplements, or monographs, including solo authorship of the current hypertension chapter for the Harrisons textbook (Internal Medicine), and co-authorship of the chapters in Fuster and Hurst (Cardiology), and Brenner and Rector (Nephrology) textbooks.