Gianluigi Savarese has been appointed Professor of Cardiology at KI SÖS

What does receiving this title mean to you?

KI is a world-leading medical university, and contributing to its academic environment is both a privilege and a responsibility. For me, this professorship is not only a personal milestone but also an opportunity to further strengthen heart failure research and to support the next generation of clinicians and researchers.

What is your role at KI and what does your research group do? 

I am a research group leader at the Centre for Heart Failure and Arrhythmia, and my role involves combining research, teaching and clinical practice with the aim of improving care for patients with heart disease. 

Despite significant progress, heart failure remains a condition associated with high morbidity and mortality. My work focuses on improving prognosis and quality of life for patients affected by this disease. Through research, I aim to accelerate the translation of new knowledge into clinical practice, enabling more personalized treatments and the development of more effective strategies for the prevention, diagnosis, and management of heart failure. Ultimately, my goal is to advance a more precise and patient-centered approach to cardiovascular care.

Our research group investigates how evidence-based treatments can be more effectively implemented in clinical practice, how distinct patient phenotypes can be identified to enable more personalised care, and how clinical trials can be designed to deliver more meaningful answers for patients. We are actively involved in international registry studies, clinical trials, and large-scale data analyses aimed at improving our understanding of disease progression and treatment outcomes

What are your thoughts on the possibility of combining research with clinical work?

I see this as a major strength. My clinical work helps me identify clinically relevant questions, while research provides the tools to answer them. Meeting patients reminds me every day why research matters, and research, in turn, makes it possible to improve the care we provide. The combination of clinical practice and research therefore creates a valuable feedback loop in which both continuously inform and strengthen each other. It is also essential for conducting research that has a meaningful impact on patients’ everyday lives.