Dr Shiva Ganjali is a Postdoctoral Research Officer in the Cardiovascular Inflammation and Redox Biology laboratory at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute. Her research aims to improve cardiovascular health by identifying the biological mechanisms, biomarkers and risk factors associated with poor outcomes in people with cardiometabolic conditions, including diabetes, obesity, lipid disorders and liver disease. Her work also extends to cardiovascular pharmacology, with a particular interest in antioxidant and anti-inflammatory therapeutic strategies.
At the Baker Institute, Shiva investigates how diabetes affects the heart, with a particular focus on inflammatory and oxidative stress pathways and the genes that regulate these processes. Her work integrates experimental disease models with molecular approaches, including gene and microRNA expression analyses and lipidomics, to identify potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets.
Over the past decade, Shiva has led and contributed to multidisciplinary research spanning basic, preclinical, clinical research and large-scale population-based studies. By combining laboratory data with advanced statistical analysis and modelling, she examines cardiovascular disease at molecular, clinical and population levels. This multidisciplinary approach supports the translation of scientific discoveries into improved cardiovascular risk prediction, prevention and treatment.
Shiva has authored more than 40 peer-reviewed publications and has extensive experience supervising and mentoring students at undergraduate, honours, master’s and PhD levels.
Achievements and Awards
- Alfred Deakin Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia (2023–2025)
- Research Support Grant, Deakin University, Alfred Deakin Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (2023–2025; AU$15,000)
- IMPACT Institute Travel/Conference Support Funding, Deakin University (2023; AU$2,700)
- CIA on a 2023 IMPACT Seed Grant for developing an artificial intelligence model for cardiovascular disease risk prediction in Australian older adults (AU$20,000)
- CIB on a 2023 IMPACT Seed Grant supporting the expansion of the Obesity, Diabetes and Cardiovascular Collaboration dataset (AU$20,000)
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (2022–2023)
- PhD Scholarship, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (2015–2021)
- Top PhD Candidate at the Faculty of Medicine Research and Technology Festival, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (2020)
- Wael Al-Mahmeed and International Atherosclerosis Society Research Training Grant and Fellowship for the MENA Region (2019; US$10,000)
- Scholarship from Mashhad University of Medical Sciences to undertake an international research sabbatical (2018; €6,000)
- Best Poster Presentation Award, First Congress of Metabolic Syndrome and Thyroid Disease, Mashhad, Iran (2018)
- Ranked first in the PhD comprehensive exam at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (2016)
- Distinguished Adjunct Professor at Alzahra University of Mashhad (2016)
