Professor Svati H. Shah, MD, MHS, Cardiology
Ursula Geller Distinguished Professor of Research in Cardiovascular Diseases
Tell us about your clinical, academic, or research interest and why you are passionate about this topic or area of focus.
I am a physician-scientist and a cardiologist. I have a translational research laboratory within the Duke Molecular Physiology Institute where I study the genetic and molecular determinants of cardiometabolic diseases. I am lucky to get to work with a multi-disciplinary team in my lab including biostatisticians, bioinformaticians and genetics experts. Using large human cohorts and clinical trials biorepositories, we have identified key metabolic pathways and related biomarkers that underlie cardiometabolic disease risk and we study monogenic cardiovascular disorders. I am also fortunate to be the Director of the Duke-Kannapolis clinical research site which conducts clinically oriented, community-engaged translational research.
I feel incredibly lucky to be able to do research but to also take care of patients. I founded and direct the Duke Adult Cardiovascular Genetics Clinic where we care for patients with monogenic cardiovascular disorders. I am passionate about the use of genetics to identify undiagnosed disease and improve patient care; while we think of these as rare diseases, in aggregate in fact they are not that rare and frequently go undiagnosed and untreated. My passion for this field started as a cardiology fellow at Duke University when I was seeing very young patients having heart attacks, and was further amplified after my son was hospitalized with a gastrointestinal bleed. After a several month diagnostic odyssey, both my sons were diagnosed with a genetic bleeding disorder. I am excited to lead a new genomic medicine program within the Duke School of Medicine where we will be expanding the use of genetics for undiagnosed diseases with the ultimate goal of improving patient care.
Who has influenced you the most in life and why?
My family has influenced me the most. My parents are immigrants from India; they worked tirelessly to escape the poverty in which they were raised. My mother was a single mother who struggled to raise my sister and me, but she never gave up and even while trying to put food on the table, she always pushed to improve herself. She inspires me to work hard and pursue excellence in everything I do, both professionally and personally.
This Q&A is part of a larger piece from the Department of Medicine.