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
Prof Will Drake (Co-Supervisor), Dr Elena Azizan (Visiting Lecturer), Dr Xilin Wu (Academic Clinical Lecturer), Dr Emily Goodchild (Academic Clinical Lecturer), Dr Kate Laycock (Academic Clinical Lecturer), Dr Jessica Kearney (Clinical PhD Fellow), Dr Yun-ni-Lee (Clinical PhD Fellow), Dr Antoine Pineau-Mitchell (Clinical PhD Fellow), 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