Email

virani@bcm.edu

Positions

Professor

Medicine - Cardiology
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas United States

Staff Cardiologist

Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center
United States

Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship Program Director

Baylor College of Medicine

Co-Director, VA Advanced Fellowship Program in Health Services Research & Development

Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center

Addresses

Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention (Clinic)

6565 Fannin, Suite 320
Houston, TX 77030
United States

Education

Fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine

06/2008 - Houston, Texas United States

Cardiology

MBBS from Aga Khan University Medical College

01/1998 - Karachi, Pakistan

Residency at Jackson Memorial Hospital-University of Miami

06/2005 - Miami, Florida United States

Internal Medicine

PhD from Baylor College of Medicine

01/2012 - Houston, Texas United States

Biostatistics/ Health Services Research

Certifications

Internal Medicine

American Board of Internal Medicine

Level III Certification

American Society of Echocardiography

Cardiovascular Disease

American Board of Internal Medicine

Honors & Awards

Chair, Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease Council

American College of Cardiology

Immediate Past Chair, Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics Committee

American Heart Association

Immediate Past Chair, Research and Publications Committee

American College of Cardiology PINNACLE Registry

Associate Editor for Innovations

ACC.org

Member, NCDR Management Board

American College of Cardiology

Scott Grundy Award for Excellence in Lipids Metabolism Research

American Heart Association

Jeremiah Stamler Distinguished Young Investigator Research Award

Tauber award for the Outstanding Cardiology Fellow

Texas Heart Institute

Norton Rose Fulbright Faculty Excellence Award (Teaching and Evaluation, Educational Research, Development of Enduring Educational Materials)

Baylor College of Medicine

Emerging Faculty Program

American College of Cardiology

World Heart Federation's Emerging Leaders Program

Best Doctors® Database

Chair, Global NCD Academy

American College of Cardiology

Professional Interests

• Atherosclerosis
• Health Outcomes
• Guideline adherence
• m-health

Professional Statement

Salim S. Virani, MD, Ph.D., is a tenured Professor in the Sections of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Research at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He is also an investigator in the Health Policy, Quality, and Informatics Program at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Health Services Research and Development Center of Innovation in Houston, TX. His clinical practice includes being a Preventive Cardiologist at Baylor College of Medicine and the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center (MEDVAMC), with a special emphasis on management of complex dyslipidemias. He also serves as the Director for the Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship Training Program at Baylor College of Medicine and Co-Director for the VA Advanced Fellowship Program in Health Services Research & Development at MEDVAMC. Dr. Virani earned his medical degree from the Aga Khan University in Pakistan, graduating with the Best Medical Graduate Award. Dr. Virani completed a residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Miami, there receiving an award as the Best Resident. He then completed a Cardiology fellowship at the Texas Heart Institute, where he served as the Chief Cardiology Fellow and received Tauber Award for the Outstanding Graduating Fellow.
Dr. Virani’s research portfolio aims to understand the pathophysiology and epidemiology of atherosclerosis with a special emphasis on South Asians. His team is also studying several domains in the delivery of high-quality guideline concordant primary and secondary cardiovascular disease preventive care. Via funded research grants from the Department of Veterans Affairs, American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association, NIH, AHRQ, 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. His team is also evaluating how best to leverage technology to deliver high-quality care in Low-Middle Income Countries especially in South Asia. He has authored or co-authored >500 peer-reviewed publications or book chapters (several with his mentees) related to various aspects of cardiovascular disease prevention including cholesterol, blood pressure control and aspirin therapy with several in high-impact journals such as Circulation, European Heart Journal, JAMA, JAMA Cardiology, and Journal of the American College of Cardiology. This work has received >90,000 citations. He has been recognized as “World Expert” in Cholesterol by Expertscape (top 0.01% of scholars writing about cholesterol from 2011-2021 among 181,887 published authors). Dr. Virani has also served as a faculty for >50 online literary educational programs and has participated in >100 online or in person media interviews. He has made >150 invited presentations at various conferences and academic institutions with >50 of those at institutions and conferences outside the U.S.
Dr. Virani has been a recipient of the Scott Grundy Award for Excellence in Lipids Metabolism Research from the American Heart Association (AHA), the Jeremiah Stamler Distinguished Young Investigator Research Award, Leadership Award from the American College of Cardiology (ACC) NCDR® Oversight Committee, National Lipid Association (NLA) President’s Service Award, and the Clark Faculty Service Award at Baylor College of Medicine for exemplary professionalism and community service. Dr. Virani serves as the Chair for the ACC’s Global NCD Academy, Digital Strategy for the cardiovascular disease prevention related content for ACC.org and the ACC International’s Global Quality Solutions Work group. He serves on the Board of Directors for the American Society of Preventive Cardiology, At-Large Board Member for the Southwest Chapter of the NLA, and as a member on the ACC’s Science and Quality Committee. He has also served as Chair for the AHA's Cardiovascular Disease Statistics Committee, Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease Section of the ACC and the Research and Publications Committee of the ACC’s PINNACLE Registry (the largest outpatient cardiovascular disease registry in the world), and as the Associate Editor for Innovations for ACC.org. He has been inducted several times in the Best Doctors® Database (peer-reviewed group that includes the top 5% of U.S. physicians). More recently, Dr. Virani has served as a panel member for the 2018 AHA/ACC Multi-society Guideline on Cholesterol Management, the 2019 ACC/AHA Guideline for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease, and the 2019 World Heart Federation/International Diabetes Federation’s Road Map on the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease among People Living with Diabetes. Currently, he is serving as a member of the writing group on the World Heart Federation’s Road Map on Cholesterol Management and the European Atherosclerosis Society’s Consensus statement on Lipoprotein(a).
Dr. Virani firmly believes in the notion of Civil Society that one of the most important objectives of being able to acquire quality education is to serve the communities in which we live and the communities in need. In that respect, he spends ~15-20 hours per week in voluntary service with a dedicated team of volunteers to (a) provide educational and behavioral intervention related resources to combat NCDs in the community (b) play an active role in health care capacity building for communities in South Asia, Central Asia, and East Africa. He also serves on the World Heart Organization’s Technical Advisory Group on NCD related research and innovation (TAG/RI).

Websites

Selected Publications

• Brautbar A, Pompeii LA, Dehghan A, Ngwa JS, Nambi V, Virani SS, Rivadeneira F, Uitterlinden AG, Hofman A, Witteman JC, Pencina MJ, Folsom AR, Cupples LA, Ballantyne CM, Boerwinkle E "A genetic risk score based on direct associations with coronary heart disease improves coronary heart disease risk prediction in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC), but not in the Rotterdam and Framingham Offspring, Studies.." Atherosclerosis. 2012 Aug;223(2):421-6. Pubmed PMID: 22789513
• Negi SI, Brautbar A, Virani SS, Anand A, Polisecki E, Asztalos BF, Ballantyne CM, Schaefer EJ, Jones PH "A novel mutation in the ABCA1 gene causing an atypical phenotype of Tangier disease.." J Clin Lipidol. 2013 Jan;7(1):82-7. Pubmed PMID: 23351586
• Virani SS, Pompeii L, Lincoln AE, Dunn RE, Tucker AM, Nambi V, Nasir K, Vogel RA, Boone JL, Roberts AJ, Ballantyne CM "Association between traditional cholesterol parameters, lipoprotein particle concentration, novel biomarkers and carotid plaques in retired National Football League players.." Atherosclerosis. 2012 Jun;222(2):551-6. Pubmed PMID: 22525822
• Alam M, Lee VV, Elayda MA, Shahzad SA, Yang EY, Nambi V, Jneid H, Pan W, Coulter S, Wilson JM, Ramanathan KB, Ballantyne CM, Virani SS "Association of gender with morbidity and mortality after isolated coronary artery bypass grafting. A propensity score matched analysis.." 2012 Jan 10; Pubmed PMID: 22240765

Languages

Gujarati, Hindi, Urdu