Rate My Professor Barbara Harper

Dr Barbara Kemp-Harper is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at Monash University, affiliated with the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute as group leader of the Vascular Biology and Immunopharmacology Group and leader of the Vascular Signalling Group. Her research as a vascular pharmacologist focuses on improving blood vessel function in cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension, high cholesterol, and diabetes. She has a longstanding interest in the mechanisms underlying nitric oxide signalling, which is compromised in disease states to maintain blood flow and pressure. Internationally recognised for her work on nitroxyl (HNO), a novel sibling of nitric oxide with therapeutic advantages, her studies identify new strategies for treating angina, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. She currently holds an NHMRC Project Grant supporting this research.

Associate Professor Kemp-Harper also serves as Co-Head of the Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Pharmacology Group, Co-Director of the Preclinical Medicine Program, and Co-Director of Year 1 and 2 Academic Programs for the Monash Medicine Course. She holds a PhD and BSc (Hons). Her excellence in teaching and service is recognised by awards including the Monash University Vice-Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence (2018), Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute Award for Outstanding Achievement: Innovation in Learning and Teaching (2017, with E.A. Davis), ASCEPT Service Award (2013), and Monash University Exceptional Achievement Awards (2005, 2017). Key publications encompass 'Lipoxin A4 improves cardiac remodeling and function in diabetes-associated cardiac dysfunction' (Fu et al., 2024, Cardiovascular Diabetology), 'A high-sucrose diet exacerbates the left ventricular phenotype in a high fat-fed streptozotocin rat model of diabetic cardiomyopathy' (Velagic et al., 2023, American Journal of Physiology - Heart and Circulatory Physiology), 'IL-4 and IL-13 induce equivalent expression of traditional M2 markers and modulation of reactive oxygen species in human macrophages' (Scott et al., 2023, Scientific Reports), and seminal nitroxyl studies such as 'Nitroxyl (HNO) Stimulates Soluble Guanylyl Cyclase to Suppress Cardiomyocyte Hypertrophy' (2012). With over 7000 citations, her contributions have profoundly influenced cardiovascular pharmacology.