2026 Lewis K. Dahl Memorial Lecturer – Grant Drummond, PhD, FAHA

Grant Drummond, PhD, FAHA

La Trobe University
Melbourne, Australia

Grant R. Drummond, PhD, is a physiology professor at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, where he serves as co-director of the Centre for Cardiovascular Biology and Disease Research and associate dean of partnerships in the School of Agriculture, Biomedicine and Environment.

His research has focused on understanding the molecular and immune mechanisms that drive hypertension, kidney disease and other cardiovascular disorders. Drummond began his association with the American Heart Association in 1998 when he was awarded a Heart Association postdoctoral fellowship to train in the laboratory of David Harrison, MD, at Emory University in Atlanta, investigating oxidative mechanisms regulating endothelial function and vascular disease. Nearly three decades later, he is deeply honored to be selected as the 2026 Lewis K. Dahl Memorial Lecturer.

Over his career, Drummond has helped define the role of oxidative stress, innate immunity and adaptive immunity in cardiovascular disease. His work has provided seminal insights into how inflammasomes, interleukin-18, B cells and T cells contribute to hypertension, renal dysfunction and end-organ damage, helping to establish inflammation as a causal driver of hypertension rather than a consequence of disease. Drummond has published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers and delivered numerous international named lectures. He is an elected fellow of the American Heart Association. His current research seeks to translate advances in cardiovascular immunology into new therapies for hypertension, kidney disease and their complications.