John Flack, M.D., M.P.H., professor of Medicine and Physiology, and Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine for the Wayne State University School of Medicine, has been elected to the American Society of Hypertension Specialist Program as director-at-large.

"It is a tremendous honor to have been elected to serve the American Society of Hypertension as a board member of its hypertension specialist program," said Dr. Flack, whose three-year term began Jan. 1. "This certification program is open to primary care as well as specialist physicians and is a program that has increased hypertension expertise beyond the walls of specialized hypertension centers. I am most pleased to now have an active role in this process."

The American Society of Hypertension is the largest organization of hypertension researchers and health care providers in the United States. The organization exists to facilitate the exchange of information among basic scientists, clinical investigators and others involved in the study or management of high blood pressure.

Dr. Flack is a widely recognized specialist in clinical hypertension and principal investigator of the Center for Urban and African American Health at Wayne State University. The center houses several research projects thematically linked through obesity, diet and other lifestyle factors, including physical activity and obesity-related cardiovascular disease and cancer. In addition to focusing on the mechanisms that may cause these conditions, such as environment, lifestyle, physiology and genetics, the center seeks to identify preventive strategies and therapies that might alleviate the disproportionate burden of disease among African-Americans.