Louise Evans Email and Phone Number

My research is primarily focused on the causes and consequences of salt-sensitive hypertension, from the behavioral drive to consume salt, to the effects of pressure on the kidney.I completed my undergraduate degree in Pharmacology at the University of Bristol in the UK. During this time I spent a year working in the Cardiovascular and Urogenital Centre of Excellence in Drug Discovery, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals, PA. Here, my project was focused on the genetic causes of overactive bladder and this was my first experience of in vivo physiology. Following my undergraduate studies I completed a 4-year British Heart Foundation Funded PhD at the Centre for Cardiovascular Science at the University of Edinburgh, under the supervision of Dr. Matthew Bailey and Professor John Mullins. My project focused on the role of mineralocorticoids in the regulation of sodium and water homeostasis, studying both central and renal mechanisms. The work in my PhD thesis provided the first in vivo evidence of a unifying link between activation of mineralocorticoid receptors in the NTS, salt appetite and blood pressure control. Following my PhD, I joined Dr. Allen Cowley’s lab in the Medical College of Wisconsin for my post-doctoral training. Primarily, my work focused on the role of oxidative stress in the renal medulla in the initiation of salt-sensitive hypertension. This project was funded by an American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowship. Subsequently, I used the unique servo-control system to examine the role of renal perfusion pressure in the initiation of renal inflammation. Using this technique I found that renal immune cell infiltration is amplified by increased pressure in Dahl salt-sensitive rats. This work formed the basis of my American Heart Association Scientific Development Grant, which was funded in July 2017. I joined Dr. John Osborn's lab at the University of Minnesota as a Research Assistant Professor in September 2018. In 2020 received my first R01 and began my independent research lab as a Tenure Track Assistant Professor at UMN.