World Leader in Preventive Cardiology and Complex Dyslipidemias Salim Virani, MD, PhD, Joins The Texas Heart Institute Academic Faculty
HOUSTON, TX, February 15, 2023 – The Texas Heart Institute® announced today that Salim S. Virani, MD, PhD, will join its academic faculty to strengthen its global partnership and support its postdoctoral fellowship training ecosystem.
“Dr. Virani is recognized worldwide as a leading expert in preventive cardiology and outcomes research,” said Dr. Joseph G. Rogers, President and CEO of The Texas Heart Institute. “Our trainees will benefit from his longstanding dedication to scholarship, and his engagement with The Institute furthers our commitment to global leadership in patient care, pioneering innovation, and unparalleled training,”
Dr. Salim Virani is an alumnus of The Texas Heart Institute Fellowship training program, and a member of The Texas Heart Institute Professional Staff. In 2022, Aga Khan University announced Dr. Virani’s appointment as its first Vice Provost for Research.
He is a world expert on the impact of serum cholesterol on cardiovascular disease; according to PLOS Biology, he was among the top 0.01% of scholars who wrote about cholesterol from 2011-2021, and among the top 2% of the most cited scientists worldwide in 2022.
Dr. Virani volunteers in communities in the U.S. and abroad with a dedicated team of other volunteers who provide educational and behavioral intervention-related resources to combat non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the community.
He also plays an active role in healthcare capacity building for communities in South Asia, Central Asia, and East Africa. In addition, he serves on the World Health Organization’s Technical Advisory Group of experts on NCD-related research and innovation.
“I believe in the notion of civil society, and that one of the most important reasons to acquire a quality education is to serve the communities in which we live and the communities in need,” said Dr. Virani.
Dr. Virani earned his medical degree from Aga Khan University in Pakistan, graduating with the Best Medical Graduate Award. He then completed a residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Miami, receiving the Best Resident award. Dr. Virani went on to complete a cardiology fellowship at The Texas Heart Institute, where he served as the Chief Cardiology Fellow and received the Tauber Award for Outstanding Graduating Fellow.
Dr. Virani previously served as a tenured Professor in the Sections of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Research at Baylor College of Medicine and an investigator in the Health Policy, Quality, and Informatics Program at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center (MEDVAMC) Health Services Research and Development Center of Innovation in Houston, TX. He also served as the Director of the Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship Training Program at Baylor College of Medicine. He will maintain his adjunct appointment with Baylor College of Medicine and MEDVAMC.
Dr. Virani is an internationally recognized scholar and lecturer with more than 300 invited presentations at various conferences and academic institutions worldwide. His research portfolio aims to understand the pathophysiology and epidemiology of atherosclerosis with a particular emphasis on South Asians. His teams are studying several domains in delivering high-quality guidelines concordant with preventive care for primary and secondary cardiovascular disease.
Through funded research grants from the Department of Veterans Affairs, American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association, National Institutes of Health, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the World Heart Federation, his team has been evaluating models of delivery of cardiovascular disease preventive care, how to leverage machine learning while using “big data,” and how point-of-care informatics driven interventions can improve guideline-concordant care delivery.
He is also evaluating how best to leverage technology to deliver high-quality care in low to middle-income countries, especially in South Asia.
He has authored or co-authored more than 600 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters related to various aspects of cardiovascular disease prevention, including hyperlipidemia management, blood pressure control, and aspirin therapy, with several in high-impact journals such as New England Journal of Medicine, Circulation, European Heart Journal, JAMA, JAMA Cardiology, and Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Dr. Virani has been the recipient of multiple awards for his exemplary professionalism and community service and provides strategic leadership to workgroups, associations, boards and committees around the world focused on lipids, outcomes, quality, and cardiovascular disease prevention. He currently serves as the Chair for the American College of Cardiology’s (ACC) Global NCD Academy and the ACC International’s Global Quality Solutions Workgroup. He also serves as an At-Large Board Member for the Southwest Chapter of the National Lipid Association and as a member on the ACC’s Science and Quality Committee.
He has been inducted several times into the Best Doctors® Database (a peer-reviewed group that includes the top 5% of U.S. physicians).
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About The Texas Heart Institute®
The Texas Heart Institute is an independent, nonprofit organization improving cardiovascular health through trailblazing research, thought leadership, education, and patient care. Located within the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas, and founded in 1962 by renowned cardiac surgeon Dr. Denton Cooley, The Texas Heart Institute performed the first successful heart transplant and total artificial heart implant in the United States. Since then, our physicians and surgeons have remained recognized as worldwide leaders in diagnosing and treating even the most complex cardiovascular conditions. Research programs at The Texas Heart Institute continue to push the boundaries of cardiovascular science by translating laboratory discovery into patient care. The Texas Heart Institute has been ranked among the top cardiovascular centers in the United States by U.S. News & World Report for more than 30 years. www.texasheart.org
Watch Interview with Dr. Joseph G. Rogers
