Gaurav Sharma, Ph.D. Titles and Appointments Assistant Professor School Graduate School Department Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgery | Advanced Imaging Research Center | Biomedical Engineering Graduate Programs Biomedical Engineering Biography Download Curriculum Vitae Gaurav Sharma, PhD, MBA, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center, with secondary appointments in Biomedical Engineering and the Advanced Imaging Research Center. He earned a B.Sc. in biological sciences and an M.Sc. in biotechnology, followed by a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. He also holds an MBA from the Quantic School of Business and Technology.Dr. Sharma’s research bridges metabolic science, advanced magnetic resonance imaging, and artificial intelligence to address cardiovascular disease and improve transplant medicine. His lab applies stable‑isotope carbon‑13 tracer, muti-omics and advanced imaging including hyperpolarized 13C MRI (HP 13C‑MRI) to study metabolism in heart failure and ischemic heart disease. By integrating machine‑learning algorithms, his team builds AI‑driven analysis pipelines that convert complex imaging and metabolic datasets into clinically actionable insights. This research is tightly integrated with clinical activities in cardiothoracic surgery, enabling seamless evaluation of findings in patients and supporting surgeons in clinical decision-making. In transplant research, Dr. Sharma leads efforts to optimize perfusion solutions and hypothermic machine perfusion strategies for donor hearts and lungs work supported by the American Heart Association, the Josephine Hughes Sterling Foundation, UK Research and Innovation, the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. He is principal investigator on an extramurally funded clinical trials evaluating HP 13C‑MRI for myocardial viability, and on a second trial combining HP 13C‑MRI with FDG‑PET in ischemic cardiomyopathy. In collaboration with cardiothoracic surgeons, his goals are to enhance graft preservation, expand the donor pool, and improve patient outcomes.An elected Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and the American Physiological Society’s Cardiovascular Section, Dr. Sharma serves on editorial boards of The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation‑Open, Journal of Translational Medicine, NPJ Imaging, and NPJ Cardiovascular Health, reviews for over 50 journals, and contributes to peer‑review panels for AHA, NIH, NSF, UKRI, NHMRC, and CIHR. A sought‑after speaker, he is committed to translating metabolic imaging and AI innovations into tools that advance cardiovascular care and transplantation. Education Graduate School All India Inst of Medical Sci , Biomedical Sciences Graduate School Quantic School Business & Tech , Business Administration Research Interest Cardiovascular & Metabolic Diseases Donor organ preservation Explainable AI (XAI) in Medicine Hyperpolarized Carbon-13 Metabolic Imaging Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy/Imaging (MRS/I) Metabolic Flux Analysis Metabolomics and Transcriptomics NMR and MS metabolomics Stable Isotope Tracers for Assessing Metabolism in vivo and ex vivo Publications Featured Publications Development and Validation of a Hybrid Machine Learning Model to Predict Lung Transplant Outcomes. Sharma G, Kamal VK, Bollineni S, Timofte I, Plasencia JD, Lesaja S, Kaza V, Keshavamurthy S, Murala J, Peltz M, Jessen ME, JAMA Netw Open 2025 Nov 8 11 e2545369 Metabolic and Transcriptomic Insights into Controlled Hypothermic Preservation of Human Donor Hearts. Sharma G, Vela RJ, Powell L, Deja S, Fu X, Burgess SC, Malloy CR, Jessen ME, Peltz M, J Heart Lung Transplant 2025 Mar Deteriorated biomechanical properties of human hypertrophied septum in response to cardiomyocyte enlargement, overexpressed collagen, and disarrayed microstructures. Copeland KM, Chen H, Chintapula U, Almasian M, Chung DK, Taylor AM, Ding Y, Sharma G, Jessen ME, Hong Y, Nguyen KT, Peltz M, Bajona P, Liao J, Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2025 13 1620594 Recent Advances Associated with Cardiometabolic Remodeling in Diabetes-induced Heart Failure. Sharma G, Chaurasia SS, Carlson MA, Mishra PK, Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 2024 Oct Glycerol as a precursor for hepatic de novo glutathione synthesis in human liver. Jin ES, Malloy CR, Sharma G, Finn E, Fuller KNZ, Reyes YG, Lovell MA, Derderian SC, Schoen JA, Inge TH, Cree MG, Redox Biol 2023 Jul 63 102749 Oxidation of hyperpolarized [1-13 C]pyruvate in isolated rat kidneys. Sharma G, Maptue N, Rahim M, Mijes MLT, Hever T, Wen X, Funk AM, Malloy CR, Young JD, Khemtong C, NMR Biomed 2022 Oct e4857 Co-Polarized [1-13C]Pyruvate and [1,3-13C2]Acetoacetate Provide a Simultaneous View of Cytosolic and Mitochondrial Redox in a Single Experiment. Sharma G, Wen X, Maptue NR, Hever T, Malloy CR, Sherry AD, Khemtong C, ACS Sens 2021 11 6 11 3967-3977 PKM1 Exerts Critical Roles in Cardiac Remodeling Under Pressure Overload in the Heart. Li Q, Li C, Elnwasany A, Sharma G, An YA, Zhang G, Elhelaly WM, Lin J, Gong Y, Chen G, Wang M, Zhao S, Dai C, Smart CD, Liu J, Luo X, Deng Y, Tan L, Lv SJ, Davidson SM, Locasale JW, Lorenzi PL, Malloy CR, Gillette TG, Vander Heiden MG, Scherer PE, Szweda LI, Fu G, Wang ZV, Circulation 2021 08 144 9 712-727 Real-time hyperpolarized 13C magnetic resonance detects increased pyruvate oxidation in pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 2/4-double knockout mouse livers. Sharma G, Wu CY, Wynn RM, Gui W, Malloy CR, Sherry AD, Chuang DT, Khemtong C, Sci Rep 2019 Nov 9 1 16480 Metabolism of hyperpolarized 13 C-acetoacetate to ?-hydroxybutyrate detects real-time mitochondrial redox state and dysfunction in heart tissue. Chen W, Sharma G, Jiang W, Maptue NR, Malloy CR, Sherry AD, Khemtong C, NMR Biomed 2019 Apr e4091 Results 1-10 of 29 1 2 3 Next Last Honors & Awards Fellow, American College of Cardiology (2024) Awarded 1st place in Poster Presentation at Annual Symposium of In vivo Center of Metabolism (2019-2019) Postdoctoral Fellowship from American Heart Association (2018-2020) Educational stipend from the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (2017-2017) International Travel Award from Indian Council of Medical Research (2014) Educational stipend from the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (2013-2013) Predoctoral Fellowships (Junior and Senior Research Fellowships) from Indian Council of Medical Research (2010-2015) Professional Associations/Affiliations American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) (2016) American College of Cardiology (ACC) (2024) American Heart Association (AHA) (2018) American Physiological Society (APS) (2023) International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) (2022) International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) (2013) Radiological Society of North America (2024) World Molecular Imaging Society (WMIC) (2013)
