Professor Morris Brown, FRS, FMedSci

Professor of Endocrine Hypertension
Centre: Clinical Pharmacology and Precision Medicine
Email: morris.brown@qmul.ac.uk Telephone: +44(0) 20 7882 3901
Profile
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-8409-1082
Formerly, Professor of Clinical Pharmacology, University of Cambridge 1985-2016
1999 Fellowship of Academy of Medical Sciences
2002 Lilly Prize, British Pharmacological Society
2003 Hospital Doctor of the Year 2003 – winner for Cardiovascular Medicine Section and overall winner
2005 Walter Somerville Medal, British Cardiac Society
2014 Pickering Lecturer, British Hypertension Society
2016 Royal College of Physicians/Lancet Research Award (for outstanding research contributing to excellent patient care’)
2018 International Society of Hypertension's Robert Tigerstedt Lifetime Achievement Award
2024 Endocrine Society’s Aurbach Award for Outstanding Translational Research
2025 Fellowship of the Royal Society
Research
Group members
- Co-Supervisor: Prof Will Drake
- Dr Elena Azizan, Visiting Lecturer
- Dr Xilin Wu, Dr Emily Goodchild, Dr Kate Laycock (Academic Clinical Lecturers)
- Dr Jessica Kearney, Dr Yun-ni-Lee, Dr Antoine Pineau-Mitchell (Clinical PhD Fellows)
- Aklima Khatun, Research Co-ordinator
- Denise Grant, Administrator
Summary
I have studied causes and treatment of Hypertension since 1977, with concentration since moving to QMUL on Primary Aldosteronism. Principal discoveries:
- AB/CD rule for the treatment of Hypertension (1999)
- Two types of aldosterone-producing adenomas, and several gain-of-function somatic mutations (2013, 2021, 2023)
- Aldosterone synthase inhibitors for hypertension and PA (2017, 2023, 2025)
- Use of spironolactone for resistant hypertension (PATHWAY trials, 2015)
- Molecular imaging for Primary Aldosteronism (2012, 2023)
- Targeted thermal therapy (TTT) for aldosterone-producing adenomas (2025)
Please see https://royalsociety.org/people/morris-brown-37332/ for short summary.
Sponsors
Collaborators
Internal
- Prof William Drake
- Dr David Collier
- Dr Chaz Mein
- Ms Eva Wozniak
- Dr Claudia Cabrera
External
- Dr Maria-Christina Zennaro, Inserm, Paris
- Dr Celso Gomez Sanchez, University of Mississipi
- Dr William Rainey, University of Michigan
News
- New treatment could cure one in 20 cases of high blood pressure (The Guardian), March 2025
- 10 minute scan can detect and cure most common cause of high blood pressure (Independent), January 2023
- Cause and cure discovered for common type of blood pressure (Medical Xpress), June 2023
- Researchers successfully identify new gene variants that cause hypertension in pregnant women (National Institute for Health and Care Research), August 2021
- New scan helps detect a common cause of high blood pressure (National Institute for Health and Care Research),
- Blood Pressure, Palm Oil (BBC Inside Health, Radio 4), February 2016
- British Heart Foundation film about the metomidate PET CT (British Heart Foundation)
Society Roles and Public Engagement
- Special Advisor to the Parliamentary Committee on Medical Training 2007-2008, following multiple letters in The Times, Lancet and BMJ, and Leadership of the ginger group, Fidelio
- Advisory Board, International Patients Organization - www.primaryaldosteronism.org.
- I have appeared on Radio 4 Inside Health, together with named patients, to raise awareness about Primary Aldosteronism and Hypertension - Link 1, Link 2.
- I participated, with patients, in several articles, arranged by BHF about funded adrenal and hypertension research, e.g. Daily Mail and Reader’s Digest.
Teaching
My research group, co-supervised by Prof Will Drake, consists of 3-4 clinical PhD Fellows, usually trainees in Endocrinology, and 3 NIHR academic Clinical Lecturers (former PhD Fellows).
I also lecture on several Masters courses.
Disclosures
None