The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) recently welcomed back one of its distinguished alumni, internationally acclaimed Professor Virend Somers, who delivered a lecture on: Sleep Apnoea, Arrhythmias and Sudden Cardiac Death, illustrating how obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is not just a sleep disorder, but a potent and independent cardiovascular risk factor.
Now with the Department of Cardiovascular Diseases at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, USA, where he holds the Alice Sheets Marriott Professorship, Somers highlighted the growing global burden of sleep-related cardiovascular disease, reports Ndaba Online.
A graduate of the former University of Natal, he earned his MBChB degree in South Africa before being awarded a Nuffield Dominions Scholarship to the University of Oxford. There, he completed his Doctor of Philosophy degree, laying the foundation for a career that would shape modern understanding of the links between sleep, the nervous system and cardiovascular health.
After his doctoral studies, Somers completed his residency in internal medicine and a cardiology fellowship at the University of Iowa, before establishing a globally recognised translational research programme focusing on the integrated control of cardiometabolic function, vascular biology and adipocyte biology in both normal and disordered sleep.
He outlined to his audience the mechanisms through which intermittent hypoxaemia, exaggerated negative intrathoracic pressures, autonomic dysregulation and systemic inflammation contribute to atrial structural and electrical remodelling, increased sympathetic activation, blood pressure surges and malignant ventricular arrhythmias.
Particular emphasis was placed on the altered circadian pattern of cardiovascular events in patients with OSA, including the increased nocturnal incidence of sudden cardiac death and arrhythmic events.
Somers’ research programme is supported by three National Institutes of Health (NIH) RO1 grants, as well as funding from the American Heart Association. His scientific impact is reflected in an H-index of 111 and more than 65 000 citations, underscoring his role as one of the world’s leading authorities in cardiovascular and sleep medicine.
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