Roland E Schmieder is a Professor of Internal Medicine, Nephrology and Hypertension, Head of the Clinical Research Centre and Vice Chair of the Department of Nephrology and Hypertension at the University Hospital Erlangen, Germany. He also directs the Institute of Preventative Medicine at the University Erlangen-Nuremberg and the Community Hospital Nuremberg. Roland is a member of numerous professional societies and committees, and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians (ACP) and the American College of Cardiology (ACC). He is on the international Editorial Board of the American Journal of Hypertension, the Journal of Human Hypertension and the Journal of Nephrology, among other scientific journals. Professor Schmieder received his post-graduate medical training in nephrology, cardiology and hypertension at the University Hospital of Bonn, and then at the Alton Ochsner Foundation, New Orleans. He graduated in medicine from the…