ASCI / Emerging-Generation Awards, 2022

Senthil Selvaraj, MD, MS, MA, is a physician-scientist interested in the cardiometabolic underpinnings of HF, focusing on alternative fuel sources. Overall, his translational work combines cardiovascular metabolism and mechanistic, randomized trials in HF patients. By way of brief background, Dr. Selvarj completed undergraduate and medical school training at Northwestern University. Subsequently, he completed residency, chief residency, and a preventive cardiology fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. At the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, he finished his general cardiovascular medicine training and is nearing the end of his advanced fellowship in HF and transplant.

Over the past ten years, Dr. Selvaraj has used classical epidemiological approaches to understand metabolic, biomarker, echocardiographic, and hemodynamic perturbations in heart failure. More recently, he has been inspired by scientists at his institution who have performed pioneering work in ketone metabolism and fuel transitions in HF, and aims to translate these exciting discoveries from bench to bedside. Recent studies from these mentors and collaborators demonstrate that upregulation of ketone metabolism in HF is an adaptive response, highlighting its potential as a novel therapy. These preclinical discoveries have inspired Dr. Selvaraj to dissect the ketone metabolic axis in patients with HF. His previous research experiences as well as Master’s level training in translational research have well equipped him with the necessary skills as he focuses on metabolic adaptations in myocardial fuel utilization, specifically ketone metabolism. Dr. Selvaraj has authored more than 50 publications and his work has been independently supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Measey Foundation, American Society for Nuclear Cardiology, and the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics. Dr. Selvaraj is the PI of a randomized, crossover trial of exogenous versus endogenous ketosis to suppress myocardial glucose uptake, as well as the PI of a randomized controlled trial of ketone therapy in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. Building on the anticipated results, he plans to prepare further studies of therapeutic ketosis in a larger, multicenter trials, as well as investigate the role of exogenous ketosis in patients with cardiogenic shock.