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Professor Morris Brown, FRS, FMedSci

Morris

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.

Publications

  • Zeng G, Bidel Z, Yang Q et al. (2026). Pharmacological blood-pressure lowering for the prevention of cardiovascular disease and death across the full spectrum of chronic kidney disease severity: an individual-participant data meta-analysis. nameOfConference


    QMRO: qmroHref
  • Laycock K, Kearney J, Lee Y-N et al. (2026). Prospective randomised trial comparing thermal ablation With laparoscopic Adrenalectomy as an alternatiVE treatment for unilateral asymmetric primary aldosteronism: a protocol for the WAVE trial. nameOfConference


    QMRO: qmroHref
  • De Leeuw PW, Mancia G, Palmer CR et al. (2026). Patient-profiled treatment responses in a large hypertension trial: a posthoc analysis of the INSIGHT study.. nameOfConference


    QMRO: qmroHref
  • Brown MJ, Drake WM (2026). Resistant Hypertension Is Not Essential: It Is Primarily Aldosteronism. nameOfConference


  • Årstad E, Sander K, Kurzawinski TR et al. (2025). Adrenal Aldosterone Synthase Expression Imaging in Primary Aldosteronism. nameOfConference


  • Husebye ES, Assié G, Krone N et al. (2025). EndoCompass Project: Research Roadmap for Adrenal and Cardiovascular Endocrinology. nameOfConference


  • Gillett D, MacFarlane J, Goodchild E et al. (2025). Voxel-Level Comparison of [18F]CETO and [11C]MTO for Molecular Imaging of Primary Aldosteronism.. nameOfConference


  • Husebye ES, Assié G, Krone N et al. (2025). EndoCompass project: research roadmap for adrenal and cardiovascular endocrinology. nameOfConference


  • Carling T, Scholl UI (2025). More about the Phase 2a Study of Baxdrostat in Primary Aldosteronism. nameOfConference


  • Turcu AF, Freeman MW, Bancos I et al. (2025). Phase 2a Study of Baxdrostat in Primary Aldosteronism. nameOfConference


View profile publication page

Sponsors

Collaborators

Internal

  • Prof William Drake
  • Dr David Collier
  • Dr Chaz Mein
  • Ms Eva Wozniak
  • Dr Claudia Cabrera

External

The WAVE Investigators:

  • Dr Maria-Christina Zennaro, Inserm, Paris
  • Dr Celso Gomez Sanchez, University of Mississipi
  • Dr William Rainey, University of Michigan 

News

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

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