Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Sanjiv Shah Lab: HFpEF and Cardiac Mechanics

About Our Lab

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) accounts for > 50% of all heart failure cases and is associated with high morbidity and mortality. HFpEF prevalence is increasing with the aging population and the ongoing epidemics of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. HFpEF is under-recognized, diagnosis can be challenging, and there are few proven therapies for HFpEF. Therefore, in 2007, Dr. Sanjiv Shah started the world's first dedicated clinical program for HFpEF at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine with the goal of improving the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of HFpEF. Since 2007, the Northwestern HFpEF Program has been instrumental in understanding: (1) the pathogenesis of HFpEF development; (2) the pathophysiology of the complex HFpEF syndrome; (3) sub-phenotyping of HFpEF with machine learning; and (4) improving clinical trial enrollment and testing novel therapies for HFpEF. In our laboratory, we continue to study these aspects of the HFpEF syndrome in animal and cellular models, large-scale population-based epidemiology studies, HFpEF clinical trials, and in clinical physiological studies in patients with prevalent HFpEF. Major tools used in our laboratory include speckle-tracking echocardiography, ventricular-arterial coupling analyses, invasive and non-invasive pressure-volume analysis, and machine learning. 

Recent Publications


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Announcements 

  • Congratulations to Ravi Patel for receiving the NUCATS KL2 career development award, as well as winning the Department of Medicine’s Jameson Research award for the top fellow in the DOM for their research during their fellowship.
  • Dr. Shah presented the results of the Axon Therapies First-in-Human Trial of greater splanchnic nerve ablation to reduce splanchnic vasoconstriction in HFpEF at the recent HFSA Scientific Sessions 2020. Click here to view article.  
  • NHLBI HFpEF Working Group (chaired by Sanjiv Shah, MD) has published it's recommendations on research priorities in HFpEF: Click here to view the article.  

Sanjiv J. Shah, MD

Sanjiv J. Shah, MD
Stone Professor of Medicine
Director of Research, Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute
Director, Northwestern HFpEF Program
Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine
Director, Center for Deep Phenotyping and Precision Therapeutics
Institute for Augmented Intelligence in Medicine
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

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