Prediman K. (PK) Shah, MD is Director of the Division of Cardiology and the Director of the Oppenheimer Atherosclerosis Research Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where he leads several studies that focus on heart disease prevention and treatment. Dr. Shah holds the Shapell and Webb Family Chair in Clinical Cardiology at Cedars-Sinai.
Between 1992 and 2005, Dr. Shah and his colleagues conducted revolutionary research on mutant apo-A1 protein, called Apo-A1 Milano which produced a form of HDL that provided greater protection against atherosclerosis and vascular inflammation. Separate animal studies conducted in Dr. Shah’s laboratory and the laboratory of Dr. Shah’s longtime collaborator, Swedish scientist Dr. Jan Nilsson, found that a vaccine created from LDL significantly reduced plaque buildup in animals that had high cholesterol levels. Experimental studies on this novel Vaccine for Heart Disease continue and human studies are planned within the next few years.
Dr. Shah is the immediate past President of the American Heart Association (AHA) – Western States Affiliate and a member of the AHA-Western Regional Board. He is a long-time volunteer with the American Heart Association at the national, regional and local levels. He was also president of the Los Angeles Chapter of the AHA in 2001 and 2002, and has served as a member of the Los Angeles Board and the Western Regional Peer-Review Group. Dr. Shah has chaired the AHA’s Educational Task Force and the Fall Symposium and has been a member of the research committee, national scientific program committee and Young Investigators Award Group. He is also a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Larry King Cardiac Foundation and serves as the National Chairman of the Entertainment Industry Foundation’s National Cardiovascular Research Initiative (NCRI), which was launched in 2001. He was a member of the Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC) of the National Institutes of Health and serves on the Data Safety Monitoring Board of the Cell and Gene Therapy Trials of the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute of the NIH and the Scientific Publication Committee of the American Heart Association. He was also elected to the European Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Shah has edited three books on heart disease and published more than 628 scientific papers, reviews, book chapters and abstracts. He serves on the editorial boards of the peer-reviewed journals: Circulation, American Journal of Cardiology, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, International Journal of Heart Failure, Indian Heart Journal, Journal of Preventive Cardiology, Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine, Current Cardiology Reports, and Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology and Therapeutics.
Dr. Shah is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology (ACC), the American College of Physicians, and the American College of Chest Physicians. He has been a member of the ACC’s Annual Scientific Program Committee and he has co-chaired the Clinical Cardiology (ClinCard) Spotlight sessions.
He has won numerous awards, including the Gifted Teacher Award from the American College of Cardiology, an Excellence in Teaching Award from the dean of the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine, and two Golden Apple Awards from the school’s senior medical students. In 2002, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Los Angeles-American Heart Association and he has received the Heart Saver award from the Save-A-Heart Foundation and Humanitarian Award from the United Hostesses Charities in 1995 and 2006. In October 2007, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center awarded Dr. Shah the Pioneer in Medicine Award, the highest award given at the Medical Center. In 2008, he received the annual distinguished teaching award from the Cardiology Fellows at Cedars Sinai. Also in 2008, Dr Shah received two very prestigious awards from the American Heart Association during its annual scientific sessions in New Orleans: The James B Herrick Award and The Laennec Society Lectureship Award.
