Dr. Ravi Shah is a heart failure cardiologist, Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He serves as the Director of Clinical and Translational Research in Cardiovascular Medicine and the Co-Director of the Vanderbilt Diabetes Center. Dr. Shah’s research focuses on obesity, metabolic disease, and its interaction with cardiovascular disease, specifically targeting early mechanisms and marks of “cardiometabolic disease” through basic, clinical, and population-based approaches. His recent work has focused on the impact of exercise, nutrition, and aging on the progression of multi-system disease central to heart failure and heart disease. Specifically, his group has played a central role in delineating mechanisms of pro-inflammatory fat in cardiovascular diseases through the use of human translational studies spanning multi-omics and tissue phenotypes (most recently spatial and single cell technologies). In addition, his group has collaborated with leaders in the field of aging, insulin sensitivity, and exercise science to expand our understanding of the origin of accelerated aging, insulin resistance, and exercise intolerance in health and disease and how these origins contribute to accelerated heart disease. He has a major focus on training the next generation of investigators in this realm, with several NIH K awardees working closely with his mentorship, leading the NHLBI T32 at Vanderbilt as one of its Principal Investigators, and serving as Director of the Neilson Society, Vanderbilt’s Department of Medicine society aimed at assisting junior faculty in attaining tenure readiness. His research and mentorship has benefited from broad collaborations across investigators from around the United States and internationally. Central to his research is his patient contact: the ultimate motivating factor for Dr. Shah’s clinical and research endeavors is the prevention of heart and vascular disease for the benefit of patient health.