LDL-C Reduction and Vascular Protection: More Evidence for PCSK9i
Subodh Verma, MD, PhD, FRCSC, FAHA
Topics: LDL-C Reduction, Vascular Protection
- Up to 1.5 CFPC Mainpro+ Credits
- Up to 1.5 Royal College (section 1) Credits
Objectives
Faculty
Credit
- Review the role of LDL-C as a causal factor in atherosclerosis
- Review the data on PCSK9i and atherosclerosis progression and regression
- Discuss the current Clinical Practice Guidelines for LDL-C in Canad
Subodh Verma MD, PhD, FRCSC, FAHA
Scientist • Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science and Li Ka Shing
Knowledge Institute of Unity Health Toronto
Professor of Surgery and Pharmacology & Toxicology • University of Toronto
Canada Research Chair in Cardiovascular Surgery
Dr Subodh Verma is an internationally renowned cardiac surgeon-scientist and Professor at the University of Toronto. He is the Canada Research Chair in Cardiovascular Surgery, having previously served as the Canada Research Chair in Atherosclerosis (2007-2017). Dr Verma is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, one of the highest national honours that recognizes scholars for their promotion of health science. He has been a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher in Clinical Medicine since 2022 and was bestowed the University of Calgary Cumming School Medicine Alumnus of Distinction Award for Research in 2023. In recognition of his outstanding and continuing productivity of international stature, he was awarded the 2021 University of Toronto Lister Prize in Surgery. For his work on the relationship between inflammation and atherosclerosis, he was named the recipient of the Howard Morgan Award for Distinguished Achievements in Cardiovascular Research from the International Academy of Cardiovascular Sciences and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Gold Medal in Surgery. Dr Verma is an appointee of the American Association of Thoracic Surgeons (AATS) and a past member of the Royal Society of Canada College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists.
As of March 2025, Dr Verma’s nearly 800 peer-reviewed publications have earned him a Google Scholar h-index of 133 with over 92,000 citations. He has published extensively in highly impactful journals that include the NEJM, Lancet, Nature, Circulation, European Heart Journal, and JACC. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Current Opinion in Cardiology, an Associate Editor of the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery and the European Journal of Heart Failure, and an Editorial Consultant for JACC. Dr Verma has been an active contributor to Canadian and American clinical practice guidelines and has co-authored recommendations for atrial fibrillation, antiplatelet therapy, cardiac surgery, cardiorenal protection, diabetes, heart failure, and peripheral artery disease. He is the current Scientific Program Committee Chair for the Canadian Society of Cardiac Surgeons and has served in various capacities on the American Heart Association (AHA) Council on Cardiovascular Surgery and Anesthesia since 2008.
Dr Verma had/has leadership roles in multiple contemporary global heart failure, cardiometabolic disease and atherosclerosis trials – several of which have persuaded guideline writing committees to recommend paradigm changes in how individuals who live with heart failure should be managed. In 2015, he founded the CardioLink platform at St Michael’s Hospital that united cardiac surgeons from across Canada to conduct robust clinical trials to better inform surgical decision-making pathways. CardioLink has since expanded its scope to include cardiometabolic studies and boasts over 40 peer-reviewed papers since its inception in 2015 with the primary results of several trials presented as late breakers at the AHA and ESC conferences.
Dr Verma also leads a dynamic pre-clinical and translational research program. He pioneered the concept of human vascular regenerative cell exhaustion (VRCE) in cardiometabolic disease progression. His findings that people of South Asian ethnicity who shoulder greater burdens of cardiometabolic diseases exhibit greater VRCE relative to white individuals of European descent has helped fill important translational gaps in the literature. Dr Verma holds two United States patents,
and his research program is supported by national peer-reviewed grants as well as funds from industry for investigator-initiated studies.