Wayne State University’s School of Medicine faculty member, Noreen F. Rossi, MD, has been awarded $1,653,829 for a research grant titled, “Neural Control of Na Balance in Hypertension: Exercise,” from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health. This five-year grant will examine how regular exercise decreases blood pressure by changing how the brain sends nerve signals to the heart and kidneys to respond to the changes in blood pressure.

“High blood pressure affects many people and poses a major risk for cardiovascular and kidney disease,” commented Dr. Rossi. “Regular dynamic exercise, such as walking, is known to improve blood pressure, but how exercise helps is still a mystery,” she added. Dr. Rossi of Grosse Pointe, Michigan is a professor of Internal Medicine and Physiology at Wayne State. She received her BS in chemistry from the University of Detroit Mercy and her MD from Yale University School of Medicine.

Wayne State University is one of the nation’s pre-eminent public research universities in an urban setting. In the past 20 years, Wayne State’s research has grown nine percent annually, with research expenditures reaching over $225 million in 2004. Through its multidisciplinary approach to research and education, and its ongoing collaboration with government, industry and other institutions, the university seeks to enhance economic growth and improve the quality of life in the city of Detroit, state of Michigan and throughout the world.