Afshin Salsali, MD

Afshin Salsali is a Clinical Professor of Medicine (volunteer faculty) in the Division of Endocrinology at RWJMS and Medical Vice President at Novo Nordisk global diabetes development. He obtained his medical degree from Tehran University of Medical Sciences and finished his internal medicine residency at StVincent’s Medical Center in Connecticut (affiliated with the Columbia University). He did his endocrinology fellowship training at University of Vermont (2001-2003), where he did one year of basic research on beta cell transdifferentiation in Dr Leahy’s lab. He stayed on as junior faculty and had the opportunity to work with renowned colleagues and mentors, Drs Bert Sobel, Jack Leahy, Richard Pratley, and William Cefalu. He was also in charge of newly started Cystic Fibrosis-Related Diabetes Clinic at UVM. Dr Salsali started his research career in drug development by joining Bristol Myers Squibb in 2007. He was part of the dapagliflozin clinical research program leading to its approval as the first SGL2i for the treatment of T2D in the US and Europe. He continued his clinical research journey by joining Boehringer-Ingelheim (BI) in 2012 as the medical lead for the empagliflozin diabetes development program which -for the first time ever- received approval for cardiovascular risk reduction for a diabetes medication in 2015 (EMPA-REG OUTCOME trial). He was the core member of the empagliflozin HF program including two large positive outcome trials (EMPEROR-Reduced and EMPEROR-Preserved) leading to the new indication for the treatment of patients with HFrEF and HFpEF (the first approved drug for the management of HF with preserved EF). Subsequently, he was the medical lead for the GLP1-Glucagon receptor agonist obesity program as his last project at BI. Dr Salsali joined Novo Nordisk in 2022 as diabetes global development medical VP. Throughout his drug development career, he has kept his connection with academia by joining Rutgers RWJ Endocrine Division as a clinical faculty in 2009. His clinical interests include the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes mellitus, monogenic diabetes, testosterone deficiency, subclinical Cushing’s syndrome, primary hyperaldosteronism, and weight management. He is reviewer for several peer-reviewed journals.

Selected publications: 

  1. Impact of empagliflozin on decongestion in acute heart failure: the EMPULSE trial

Jan Biegus, Adriaan A Voors, Sean P Collins, Mikhail N Kosiborod, John R Teerlink, Christiane E Angermann, Jasper Tromp, Joao Pedro Ferreira, Michael E Nassif, Mitchell A Psotka, Martina Brueckmann, Afshin Salsali, Jonathan P Blatchford, Piotr Ponikowski.

Eur Heart J 2022

  1. Effects of Empagliflozin on Symptoms, Physical Limitations, and Quality of Life in Patients Hospitalized for Acute Heart Failure – Results From the EMPULSE Trial.

Kosiborod MN, Angermann CE, Collins SP, Teerlink JR, Ponikowski P, Biegus J, Comin-Colet J, Ferreira JP, Mentz RJ, Nassif ME, Psotka MA, Tromp J, Brueckmann M, Blatchford JP, Salsali A, Voors AA.

Circulation. 2022 

  1. Renal effects of empagliflozin in patients hospitalized for acute heart failure: from the EMPULSE trial

Adriaan A Voors , Kevin Damman , John R Teerlink , Christiane E Angermann , Sean P Collins , Mikhail Kosiborod , Jan Biegus , João Pedro Ferreira , Michael E Nassif , Mitchell A Psotka , Jasper Tromp , Martina Brueckmann , Jonathan P Blatchford , Afshin Salsali , Piotr Ponikowski , EMPULSE Trial Investigators.

Eur J Heart Fail 2022

  1. Biomarker-driven prognostic models in chronic heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: the EMPEROR-Preserved trial.

Pocock SJ, Ferreira JP, Packer M, Zannad F, Filippatos G, Kondo T, McMurray JJV, Solomon SD, Januzzi JL, Iwata T, Salsali A, Butler J, Anker SD.

Eur J Heart Fail. 2022

  1. Uric acid and sodium-glucose cotransporter-2inhibition with empagliflozin in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction: the EMPEROR-reduced trial

Doehner W, Anker SD, Butler J, Zannad F, Filippatos G, Ferreira JP, Salsali A, Kaempfer C, Brueckmann M, Pocock SJ, Januzzi JL, Packer M.

European Heart Journal 2022

  1. The SGLT2 inhibitor empagliflozin in patients hospitalized for acute heart failure: a multinational randomized trial

Adriaan A. Voors, Christiane E. Angermann, John R. Teerlink, …..,Afshin Salsali & Piotr Ponikowski

Nature Medicine 2022

  1. Impact of Anemia and the Effect of Empagliflozin in HFrEF: findings from EMPEROR-Reduced

João Pedro Ferreira, Stefan Anker, Javed Butler, Gerasimos Filippatos, Tomoko Iwata, Afshin Salsali, Cordula Zeller, Stuart J. Pocock, Faiez Zannad, Milton Packer

ESC Heart Failure online Dec 2021  DOI: 10.1002/ejhf.2409

  1. Potential contribution of haemoconcentration to changes in lipid variables with empagliflozin in patients with type 2 diabetes: A post hoc analysis of pooled data from four phase 3 randomized clinical trials

Søren S. Lund, Naveed Sattar, Afshin Salsali, Dietmar Neubacher, Henry N. Ginsberg

Diabetes Obes Metab. 2021; DOI: 10.1111/dom.14534

  1. Kidney Function After Initiation and Discontinuation of Empagliflozin in Heart Failure Patients With and Without Type 2 Diabetes: Insights From the EMPERIAL Trials

Stefan D Anker, Piotr Ponikowski, Christoph Wanner, Egon Pfarr, Sibylle Hauske, Barbara Peil, Afshin Salsali, Ivana Ritter, Audrey Koitka-Weber, Martina Brueckmann, JoAnn Lindenfeld, William T Abraham 

Circulation 16 Aug 2021; doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.121.054669

  1. Mediators of the improvement in heart failure outcomes with empagliflozin in the EMPA‐REG OUTCOME trial

David Fitchett,Silvio E. Inzucchi,Bernard Zinman,Christoph Wanner,Martin Schumacher,Claudia Schmoor,Kristin Ohneberg,Anne Pernille Ofstad, Afshin Salsali, Jyothis T. George,Stefan Hantel,Erich Bluhmki,John M. Lachin, Faiez Zannad

ESC Heart Failure 2021

  1. Sodium–glucose co-transporter 2 inhibition in patients hospitalized for acute decompensated heart failure: rationale for and design of the EMPULSE trial

Jasper Tromp, Piotr Ponikowski, Afshin Salsali, Christiane E. Angermann, Jan Biegus, Jon Blatchford, Sean P. Collins, João P. Ferreira, Claudia Grauer, Mikhail Kosiborod, Michael E. Nassif, Mitchell A. Psotka, Martina Brueckmann, John R. Teerlink, and Adriaan A. Voors

EUR J Heart Fail 2021; doi:10.1002/ejhf.2137

  1. Effect of empagliflozin on exercise ability and symptoms in heart failure patients with reduced and preserved ejection fraction, with and without type 2 diabetes

WT Abraham, J Lindenfeld, P Ponikowski, P Agostoni, J Butler, AS. Desai, G Filippatos, J Gniot, M Fu, L Gullestad, J G Howlett, SJ Nicholls, J Redon, I Schenkenberger, JS Cardoso, S Stork, JK Wranicz, G Savarese, M Brueckmann, W Jamal, M Nordaby, B Peil, I Ritter, A Ustyugova, C Zeller, A Salsali, and SD Anker

EUR J Heart Fail 2021 Feb 11;42(6):700-710. 

  1. Evaluation of the effects of SGLT2 inhibition with empagliflozin on morbidity and mortality in patients with chronic heart failure and a preserved ejection fraction: rationale for and design of the EMPEROR-Preserved Trial

Stefan D. Anker,Javed Butler,Gerasimos S. Filippatos,Waheed Jamal,Afshin Salsali,Janet Schnee,Karen Kimura,Cordula Zeller,Jyothis George,Martina Brueckmann,Faiez Zannad,Milton Packer,on behalf of the EMPEROR-Preserved Trial Committees and Investigators 

European Journal of Heart Failure (2019) 21, 1279–1287

  1. Evaluation of the Effect of SGLT2 Inhibition with Empagliflozin on the Morbidity and Mortality of Patients With Chronic Heart Failure and a Reduced Ejection Fraction: Rationale for and Design of the EMPEROR-Reduced Trial

Milton Packer,Javed Butler,Gerasimos S. Filippatos,Waheed Jamal,Afshin Salsali,Janet Schnee,Karen Kimura,Cordula Zeller,Jyothis George,Martina Brueckmann,Stefan D. Anker,Faiez Zannad, on behalf of the EMPEROR-Reduced Trial Committees and Investigators 

European Journal of Heart Failure (2019) 21, 1270–1278

  1. Rationale and design of the EMPERIAL-Preserved and EMPERIAL-Reduced trials of empagliflozin in patients with chronic heart failure

WT. Abraham, P Ponikowski, M Brueckmann,C Zeller, H Macesic, B Peil, M Brun, A Ustyugova,  W Jamal, Afshin Salsali, JoAnn Lindenfeld, Stefan D. Anker

EUR J Heart Fail 2019

  1. Antihyperglycemic and Blood Pressure Effects of Empagliflozin in African Americans

with Type 2 Diabetes and Hypertension

Keith C. Ferdinand, MD, Joseph L. Izzo, MD, Jisoo Lee, MD, Leslie Meng, PhD, Jyothis George, MD, PhD, Afshin Salsali, MD, and Leo Seman, MD, PhD

Circulation 2019

  1. Design and rationale of the EMPagliflozin outcomE tRial in patients with chrOnic heaRt failure (EMPEROR-Reduced)

Faiez Zannad, Gerasimos Filippatos, Javed Butler, Afshin Salsali, Karen Kimura, Janet Schnee, Cordula Zeller, Stuart Pocock, Jyothis George, Martina Brueckmann, Stefan D. Anker, Milton Packer.

ESC-HFA meeting 2018

  1. Design and rationale of the EMPagliflozin outcomE tRial in patients with chrOnic heaRt failure (EMPEROR-Preserved)

Faiez Zannad, Gerasimos Filippatos, Javed Butler, Afshin Salsali, Karen Kimura, Janet Schnee, Cordula Zeller, Stuart Pocock, Jyothis George, Martina Brueckmann, Stefan D. Anker, Milton Packer. ESC-HFA meeting 2018

  1. Design of a 24-week trial of empagliflozin once daily in hypertensive black/African American patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Ferdinand KC, Seman L, Salsali A. 

 Curr Med Res Opin. 2018 Feb;34(2):361-367. doi: 10.1080/03007995.2017.1405800. Epub 2017 Nov 29.