Samir K Shah, MD, MPH

My name is Samir K. Shah, MD, MPH, and I am an assistant professor in the University of Florida Division of Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy. I graduated from the University of Illinois Chicago with highest distinction with both a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry and a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy. Upon graduation, I attended medical school at the Baylor College of Medicine, where I graduated with high honors and was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. I then pursued a general surgery residency at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, where I performed with distinction and received several awards, including the Steiger Research Award, and selection as an administrative chief resident. Next, I moved to Boston to complete a vascular surgery fellowship at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, subsequently becoming an attending vascular surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Veterans Affairs Hospital. I also served as an instructor of surgery at Harvard Medical School.

I am drawn to vascular surgery because of the enormous breadth of the field in terms of disease we treat and treatment strategy (medicine only, minimally invasive procedures, invasive surgery). Vascular surgery is a growing field with many opportunities to advance care via research. I also love the fact that I see my patients for life, not just before and after surgery, giving me the opportunity to have longitudinal, meaningful relationships with my patients and their families.

I am intensely interested in shared decision-making. In other words, I try to provide patients with all of the information they need to make decisions. I provide guidance based on what they tell me their goals are so that our decision is based on who they are as people rather than purely on what disease or condition they have.

I am in the 1% of vascular surgeons in the U.S. who is funded by the NIH to conduct research, which is also supported by the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS). The SVS provides one award nationally for patient-oriented research every year, and I received the award for 2023, which I am very proud of.

I am working on three projects that are all NIH-funded, including the following: Understanding the outcomes of surgery for advanced peripheral arterial disease in patients on dialysis – National Health, Lung, and Blood Institute; Understanding the health care goals of patients with advanced peripheral arterial disease – National Institute on Aging; Understanding the outcomes of surgery in patient living with dementia and how we can improve their care – National Institute on Aging. In addition, I serve as site principal investigator for numerous trials at UF for a variety of conditions, ranging from peripheral arterial disease to aortic aneurysms.

I have special expertise in treating patients for abdominal aortic aneurysms, carotid body tumors, carotid disease, chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI)/critical limb ischemia (CLI)/advanced peripheral arterial disease, claudication, dialysis access for patients with end-stage kidney disease, peripheral arterial disease, popliteal aneurysms and thoracic aortic aneurysms.

When I’m not practicing medicine, you can find me spending time with my wife and two young kids, reading or gardening. My wife is also a cardiologist at UF and sometimes, we even get to work together on cases.