Since retiring last year as scientific director of the Magee-Womens Research Institute, James Roberts says he has been "in heaven" after getting to return to his first love -- basic research.

In Dr. Roberts' case, that research has been devoted largely to the mysterious and life-threatening pregnancy condition known as preeclampsia. His groundbreaking work on the condition, which is one of the leading causes of maternal and fetal death in the world, has now earned him the Hope Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Preeclampsia Foundation.

Dr. Roberts, who is helping to lead two major studies on preeclampsia, which is also known as toxemia, will receive the award Sept. 20 at the foundation's annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

Preeclampsia is marked by high blood pressure and protein in the urine, and affects 3 to 4 percent of pregnant women, usually during their first pregnancies. The condition disappears when the women give birth, and four out of five of them never get it again.

Because of poor prenatal care among the world's poorest women, preeclampsia kills 50,000 to 60,000 women a year, although the numbers are much smaller in the developed world, Dr. Roberts said. It also accounts for 15 percent of all premature births in America, he said, and so is a contributing cause of infant mortality or lifelong disability in that group.

No one knows exactly what causes preeclampsia, but Dr. Roberts believes the higher than average blood pressure and protein in the urine are results of the condition, not its causes.

The placenta, which provides the blood supply from mother to fetus, seems to be the main culprit in the condition, he said. One possible cause of preeclampsia is that the placenta is producing a substance that attacks the lining of the mother's blood vessels, constricting them and causing protein to leak into the urine in the kidneys.

Obese women are more likely to get the condition, and for that and other reasons, African-American women are particularly vulnerable, getting the most dangerous form of preeclampsia at twice the rate of other women.

One study at Magee-Womens Research Institute showed that women who get the condition tend to have low levels of vitamin D, Because of their skin color, black women get less natural vitamin D from sunlight.

In one large multicenter study Dr. Roberts is helping direct at the institute, nearly 10,000 pregnant women have been taking antioxidant vitamins or a placebo to see if the vitamins help prevent preeclampsia. Results should be available in October, he said.

Another major study the institute recently launched will look at how much of a role obesity plays in preeclampsia. Among other things, Dr. Roberts said, investigators would like to know whether the overweight women who get the condition also are at risk for heart disease.