Salim Virani

Salim Virani serves as the Vice-Provost Research and The Nizar E. Noor Mohammed Mewawalla Endowed Professor at the Aga Khan University (AKU). Working with a dedicated team, he leads and facilitates AKU’s global research and international collaborations across South Asia, Europe, and East Africa in the areas of medicine, nursing, education, culture, media, climate change, and environmental sciences. Prior to joining AKU, Dr. Virani was a tenured Professor in the Sections of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Research at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM).

Dr. Virani’s research portfolio aims to understand the pathophysiology and epidemiology of atherosclerosis with a special emphasis on South Asians. He has authored or co-authored >750 peer-reviewed publications or book chapters (several with his mentees) related to various aspects of cardiovascular disease prevention. This work has received >150,000 citations. He has been recognized as “World Expert” in Cholesterol by Expertscape (top 0.01% of scholars writing about cholesterol from 2013-2023 among 111,001 published authors) and among the top 2% of the most cited scientists worldwide by Stanford Rankings and among the top 10 researchers in Pakistan. Dr. Virani has served as a faculty for >60 online literary educational programs and has participated in >200 online or in person media interviews. He has made ~300 invited presentations at various conferences and academic institutions worldwide.

            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 and the ACC International’s Global Quality Solutions Work group. In the recent past, he served as the 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). He has also served on the Board of Directors for the American Society of Preventive Cardiology, as the Associate Editor for Innovations for ACC.org, and the digital Strategy lead for the cardiovascular disease prevention related content 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). He also serves on the World Heart Organization’s Technical Advisory Group on NCD related research and innovation (TAG/RI).