Preparations to attend two international conferences on two different continents within a short period of time can be challenging. The New Investigator Committee (NIC) of the International Society of Hypertension (ISH) independently planned, jointly organized and successfully executed another two new investigator symposia in 2014. The previous symposia were held in Orlando, United States, Sydney, Australia and New Orleans, USA [1–4]. Our fourth annual meeting was held on 14 June 2014 in Athens, Greece, in collaboration with The European Society of Hypertension (ESH). On 8 September 2014 in collaboration with the Council on Hypertension of the American Heart Association, we organized the fifth meeting in San Francisco, USA. Both symposia were supported and attended by new investigators from the ISH NIC network that now covers 28 different countries (Figs 1 and 2).FIGURE 1: New Investigator Committee members during the Hypertension Athens 2014 Meeting (Left to right: Aletta Schutte, Fadi Charchar, Paraskevi Christofidou, Ruan Kruger, Rana El Bikai, Fady Hannah-Shmouni, Sofie Brouwers, Praveen Veerabhadrappa, Augusto Montezano, Cesar Romero, Francine Marques, Dylan Burger, Muhammad Oneeb Rehman Mian, Maciej Tomaszewski).FIGURE 2: New Investigator Committee members with the Awardees of fifth ISH New Investigator Symposium in San Francisco (Left to right: Praveen Veerabhadrappa, Aletta Schutte, Shyamala Thirunavukkarasu, Maciej Tomaszewski, L. Gabriel Navar, Sarah Even, Hana Itani, Trevor Hardigan, Ashley Wagoner, Dylan Burger, Cam McCarthy, Urmi Basu).JOINT SCIENTIFIC MEETING OF THE EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF HYPERTENSION AND THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF HYPERTENSION: HYPERTENSION ATHENS 2014, ATHENS, GREECE Our ISH New Investigator Conference Program was integrated into the Hypertension Athens (Joint ESH–ISH) meeting in June 2014 and included several oral and poster presentation sessions. Also, for the first time, a networking event to launch an innovative ‘mentorship scheme’ was exclusively organized and new investigators interacted with peers as well as potential mentors over a cocktail dinner party. In addition, the new logo of the ISH New Investigator Network was presented to the ISH leadership and the audience. Everyone enjoyed the pleasant and productive evening. Both the oral and poster sessions included a series of excellent presentations with a wide range of abstract presentations encompassing the latest research in the field of hypertension. The symposium featured 19 oral and 28 poster presentations from 23 countries. The keynote presentation was delivered by Professor Stephen Harrap entitled, ‘Blood Pressure Research–Looking Back, Looking Forward’. The presentation featured the evolution of research in the field of hypertension. Professor Harrap stressed the importance on experimenting, being open minded and always learning from the past mistakes. The oral session concluded with a special ‘quizzing the Lancet Editor’ lecture by Dr Stuart Spencer. Dr Spencer reminded the importance of writing clearly and simply. Both the speakers charmed the young audience with their wit and wisdom in science. AWARDEES Oral sessions ISH Austin Doyle Award supported by Servier Australia. Winner: Vikas Kapil (UK). ISH New Investigator Oral Presentation Awards, supported by Daiichi-Sankyo. Winner: Lucinda Hilliard (Australia) and runner up: Muhammad Oneeb Rehman Mian (Canada). Poster sessions ISH New Investigator Poster Presentation Awards, supported by Daiichi-Sankyo, Clinical Science, Hypertension Research and the Journal of Human Hypertension. Basic Science – winner: Silvia Monticone (Italy) and runner up: Katrina Mirabito (Australia); Clinical Science – winner: Aurélien Lorthioir (France) and runner up: Maria Gosk (Poland); Population Science – winner: Nicolas Verheyen (Austria) and runner up: Yi Zhang and co-author Chenhui Tai (China). FIFTH INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF HYPERTENSION NEW INVESTIGATOR SYMPOSIUM ON HYPERTENSION AND CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE, SAN FRANCISCO, USA The fifth ISH New Investigator Symposium on Hypertension and Cardiovascular Disease was held in collaboration with the American Heart Association's Council on Hypertension in advance of their scientific sessions in September 2014. This half day symposium featured 14 oral presentations and over 60 posters from the best young scientists in the field of hypertension. The sessions featured world-class science and there was excellent scientific discussion by participants. As always the symposium also provided an opportunity to interact and network with peers. Several senior scientists were also present allowing young investigators the opportunity to discuss their research with field leaders in a nonthreatening environment. The symposium was capped by a keynote lecture from Dr L. Gabriel Navar who spoke on the transition from mentee to mentor for scientists and the importance of mentorship throughout a scientific career. The talk was informative and frank with Dr Navar frequently providing his own personal experiences as mentor and mentee. AWARDEES Oral session Trevor Hardigan (USA) and Cam McCarthy (USA). Poster session Adipose tissue, nervous system and the kidney – Urmi Basu (USA); blood vessel, endothelium – Sarah Even (UK); oxidative stress, inflammation and immunity – Hana Itani (USA); clinical studies – Ashley Wagoner (USA); Miscellaneous – Shyamala Thirunavukkarasu (USA). Perspectives: One of the major missions of the ISH is to secure the legacy of excellence in hypertension research. To this end, the NIC is working tirelessly to sustain the spirit of international collaboration and ensure that it is treasured in the new generation of researchers. The NIC believes that it is our responsibility to attract and retain the best young talent in cardiovascular research within the Society [5]. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The NIC would like to acknowledge the Symposia attendees, ISH members, organizing committees of Hypertension Athens, AHA Council on Hypertension, the sponsors (Atcor, Boehringer Ingelheim, Clinical Science, Daiichi-Sankyo, DSI, Hypertension Research, Journal of Human Hypertension, Omron Europe) and the secretariat of ISH. Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts of interest.