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Toledo, OH
Dr. Bina Joe, a trailblazing hypertension researcher whose work established the link between gut bacteria and blood pressure regulation, was recently recognized with a major award from the American Heart Association.
Joe, a Distinguished University Professor and chair of The University of Toledo Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, received the Excellence in Hypertension Research Award last month.
Joe said, “Bringing this award home is a very big recognition not only for me but for our institution as a place that continues to contribute to the field of hypertension internationally.” The award is the highest honor bestowed by the AHA Council on Hypertension and one of the most prestigious awards in all of hypertension research.
Joe, who joined UToledo in 2001, has devoted her career to studying the mechanisms of hypertension — a disease that affects nearly half of all American adults and more than 1.2 billion adults worldwide.
Beginning with her work in the genetics of hypertension, Joe’s internationally recognized research has focused on unraveling potential causes of hypertension that go beyond one’s diet and exercise routine.
In 2015, she was the first to publish a scientific paper detailing the link between gut microbiota and hypertension. That paper helped to launch a new field of study that has exploded over the past few years.
“It took a while for the hypertension community to realize the importance of this research, but it is becoming central to how we look at hypertension,” Joe said. As per her research, humans are an ecosystem with one organism and many microbes, resulting in change in thinking about new medicines, treatments and resetting the ecosystem within us.
Joe’s lab-published research paper in 2023 was the first to show the feasibility of leveraging gut bacteria to treat hypertension. It showed the blood-pressure-lowering potential of boosting the body’s supply of beta hydroxybutyrate, a chemical produced predominantly by the liver.
Earlier this year, Joe received a new National Institutes of Health grant to investigate how bacteria-driven changes to bile acids in the gut affect blood pressure.
