CMHC Faculty Members

Faculty of Tarsus Medical Group are leaders in healthcare

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Salim S. Virani, MD, PhD

Houston, TX

Salim S. Virani, MD, PhD

Cardiologist

About

Salim S. Virani, MD, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in Cardiology and Cardiovascular Research Sections 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 HSR&D 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, with a special emphasis on management of complex dyslipidemias. He also serves as the Director for the Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine.

Dr. Virani’s research portfolio aims to understand several domains in the delivery of high-quality primary and secondary cardiovascular disease preventive care including effectiveness, equity, safety, and efficiency. Via funded research grants from the Department of Veterans Affairs, American Diabetes Association, and the American Heart Association, his team is evaluating models of delivery of primary cardiovascular disease preventive care, how to leverage machine learning to identify statin intolerance, 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. In this regard, his team has evaluated whether a culturally sensitive text-message based intervention delivered on mobile phones can improve health literacy and medication adherence in patients with cardiovascular disease in Pakistan. His team is also involved in a project in Tajikistan which aims to improve hypertension care delivery in the remote Gorno Badakshan district. He has authored or co-authored over 250 peer-reviewed publications (several with his mentees) related to various preventive therapies including cholesterol, blood pressure control and aspirin therapy with several in high-impact journals such as Circulation, European Heart Journal, JAMA Internal Medicine, JAMA Cardiology, and Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Education and Training

Dr. Virani earned his medical degree from the Aga Khan University Medical College 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 the Tauber Award for the Outstanding Fellow.

Professional Highlights

Dr. Virani has been a recipient of the Scott Grundy Award for Excellence in Lipids Metabolism Research from the American Heart Association (AHA) and the Jeremiah Stamler Distinguished Young Investigator Research Award. Dr. Virani serves as the Chair for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease Section of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and Vice-Chair for the AHA's Cardiovascular Disease Statistics Committee. He also serves as the Chair for the Research and Publications Committee of the ACC’s PINNACLE Registry (the largest outpatient cardiovascular disease care delivery registry in the world). He also serves as the Associate Editor for Innovations for ACC.org and the Chair for Digital Strategy for the cardiovascular disease prevention related content for ACC.org.

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