​Prof Barbara Huisamen has been nominated as an Honorary Fellow of the Physiology Society of Southern Africa (PSSA). This very prestigious award was made in recognition of her continuous support and contribution to the organisation and the field of physiology research over many years.

In addition to her involvement in physiological research, Huisamen also served as the PSSA treasurer for a term of four years.

“It is a great honour to receive this award, which is bestowed to only one person per year,” says Huisamen, an associate professor in the Division of Physiology and a chief specialist scientist at the Medical Research Council.

“I started with my PhD studies at a late stage in my life, and won the PSSA’s Wyndham competition in the first year of my studies, which was the beginning of my association with the society,” says Huisamen.  The Wyndham award is given to a young researcher who delivers the best oral presentation at the annual conference

The following year, in 1992, she won a prize, sponsored by the International Union of Physiological Sciences (IUPS), to attend an international congress in Glasgow, Scotland,

Since then, either Huisamen or a student in the research group have every year presented their work on cardiovascular complications of obesity and diabetes in pre-clinical research at the annual PSSA congress.

Huisamen explains that the research is focussed on two areas.  The group does basic research on heart functions and insulin resistance and the other focus area is pre-clinical research on nutraceutical and pharmacological products for treatment of Diabetes Mellitus II to determine risk factors of the drugs.

Photo: Prof Barbara Huisamen has been nominated as an Honorary Fellow of the Physiology Society of Southern Africa

This article appeared in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences' digital publication VIVUS. Visit www.sun.ac.za/FMHSpublications to subscribe.