Bahira Shahim

I am a cardiologist and principal investigator of the Valvular Heart Disease Lab. Our research focuses on valvular heart diseases across their entire disease spectrum, from the earliest silent changes to advanced disease requiring intervention. Valvular heart diseases affect millions of people worldwide and are important causes of heart failure, arrhythmias, hospitalizations, and death. We aim to understand why these diseases develop, why some patients experience complications, and how diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up can be better tailored to the individual patient. We combine advanced cardiovascular imaging, multiomics, arrhythmia monitoring in clinical cohorts and population-based studies to explore the links between valvular heart disease, cardiac remodeling, hemodynamics, and outcomes.

I completed my M.D. in 2013 and my Ph.D. in cadiovascular prevention in 2019. I then spent three years as a postdoctoral fellow at the Cardiovascular Research Foundation in New York, USA, funded by grants from the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation, Region Stockholm, Sweden-America Foundation, Mats Kleberg Foundation, and Foundation Blanceflor. In 2022, I returned to Sweden and joined the Karolinska Institutet as an Assistant Professor.

The Valvular Heart Disease Lab is funded by the Swedish Research Council Starting Grant, Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research “Future Research Leader” grant, Prince Daniel Research Grant for Young and Promising Researchers, Swedish Society for Medical Research (SSMF) Starting Grant, Karolinska Institutet Assistant Professor grant, Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation Project Grant, Swedish Society for Medicine (SLS) Project Grant, Karolinska Institutet Doctoral Funding Programme, and Region Stockholm ALF Medicine Project Grant.

I am a Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology (FESC) since 2023. In 2025, I was appointed as one of 16 “Future Research Leaders” by the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research, selected among early-career PI:s in Sweden. I have completed the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation Leadership Programme for Young and Promising Researchers (2022), received the SLS Best Project Proposal Award in 2024 and the Sven and Ebba-Christina Hagberg Prize in 2024. Since 2025, I am an Associate Editor at the European Heart Journal – Valvular and Structural Heart Disease.