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(Hypertension. 1999;33:609-610.)
© 1999 American Heart Association, Inc.

Special Article

The Beginnings of Hypertension

Harriet P. Dustan, MD

Louis Tobian's successful crusade to persuade the American Heart Association (AHA) to establish a journal covering the field of hypertension was a herculean accomplishment, but I like to think that John Shepherd and I played significantly positive roles in the final decision. In November 1975, I became President-elect of the AHA and so was very soon in the middle of the great debate concerning the request of the Council for High Blood Pressure Research for a new AHA sponsored journal focusing on hypertension. As it so happened, John Shepherd was President which meant two supporters in the ruling hierarchy of the AHA; I believe that helped.

I cannot remember who of the then-current movers and shakers of the AHA's Publications and Steering Committees were against AHA publishing another journal, but there were several. Lou Tobian had a big job of persuading the recalcitrant, but he finally prevailed. The Steering Committee approved the request in late 1977, and the Board approved establishment of this journal in early 1978.

This approval did not come with carte blanche but had several stipulations: "the journal must be of high quality, provide critical peer review of submitted articles, publish results of both laboratory and clinical investigations, be international, become self-supporting and submit to a progress review in three years to decide its value to the field and its future viability." In the beginning, there were to be six issues per year. "If the number of excellent articles exceeds the allotment of editorial pages, the Publications . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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