African endocrinologist again amongst the world’s best
- Wits University
Distinguished Professor Derick Raal has for the fourth time been named as a Highly Cited Researcher™ globally.
According to the Web of Science Platform, Highly Cited Researchers are those scientists and social scientists who have demonstrated significant influence through publication of multiple papers, highly cited by their peers, during the last decade.
Each researcher selected has authored multiple Highly Cited Papers™ which rank in the top 1% by citations for their field(s) and publication year.
Distinguished Professor Derick Raal is Head of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism and Director of the Carbohydrate and Lipid Metabolism Research Unit in the School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences at Wits University. He has been cited some 58,128 times.
Raal’s research interests include diabetes, hypertension, metabolism, atherosclerosis, lipid metabolism, diabetes mellitus, insulin resistance, metabolic diseases, nutrition, and glucose metabolism.
He is a world-leading expert on familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH), one of the most common inherited disorders in the world. FH affects approximately 1 in every 300 persons, or over 30 million people, worldwide.
In the Afrikaner, Jewish and Indian populations of South Africa, the prevalence is even higher, with about 1 in every 80 persons affected.
FH remains a difficult condition to treat. As a result of markedly elevated cholesterol levels from birth, untreated patients with FH suffer from early heart attack and often premature death.