Research focus: Cardiac Metabolism

Current research/role focus: Rabia Johnson is an Associate Professor and Principal Investigator of the Cardio Metabolism group at the Biomedical Research and Innovation Platform (BRIP). She is a trained molecular biologist with a research niche in type 2 diabetes and its associated cardiovascular complications. Over the past decade, her main focus was on identifying novel cardioprotective therapies and delineating the pathophysiology that results in cardiovascular dysfunction. This research niche includes the use of altermative treatment and identification of early markers for diabetes and doxorubicin-induced cardiovascular dysfunction. More recently, she has become involved in investigating the role of pharmacogenomics in uncontrolled hypertension. The rationale of the research is to understand the role of interindividual variation  in patients with uncontrol hypertension. Hypertension is a global epidemic that affects 1.13 billion individuals over the age of 25 years. In South Africa, < 40% of individuals with high blood pressure attain control, this is of great concern, as the latter two diseases (diabetes and hypertension) contribute to the increased cardiovascular disease burden.

Biography: Prof Rabia Johnson is a National Research Foundation (NRF) C2 rated scientist. She is a Chief Specialist Scientist and Deputy Director at Biomedical Research and Innovation Platform/SAMRC. She recently became involved in SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in wastewater.She also holds an extraordinary Associate Professor position within the Division of Medical Physiology, Department of Biomedical Science, Stellenbosch University. She is affiliated with SA Heart Association and has been appointed as an NRF Rating Specialist Committee Member, for the next five years, on the Biochemistry, Molecular and Cell Biology (BIOC) panel.  Her current research culminated in a local patent on early biomarker for cardiovascular dysfunction. She has built local and international collaborations and graduated young black students from various Under-Resourced Institutions, including the University of Zululand, Walter Sisulu University, and the University of the Western Cape.