The Importance of Cardiovascular Care for Longevity

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for Americans, and for decades, cardiovascular care has largely been reactive and focused on treating changes and disease after symptoms appear rather than preventing them in the first place. But for Chicagoland business professionals, that model is changing. With advanced diagnostics, concierge medicine, and nutrition and fitness experts, we now have the opportunity to identify cardiovascular risk years before a crisis occurs and help you avoid it.

Dr. Brian Hollett and the best interdisciplinary healthcare team in Chicago lead a proactive, prevention-first approach to heart health by integrating data, lifestyle optimization, and personalized healthcare to help members protect both their lifespan and healthspan.

Read on to learn about Dr. Hollett’s approach to modern cardiovascular care, longevity, and what it means to truly invest in long-term health. 

Dr. Brian Hollett on Redefining Heart Health Through Prevention-Focused Concierge Medicine

Thanks for chatting with us today, Dr. Hollett! Can you start off by explaining your background and what led you to SHIFT?

Sure! My background combines passions for clinical medicine, athletic performance, and population health. Over time, I became increasingly focused on how we could deliver higher-impact care that actually changes long-term outcomes rather than simply reacting to disease. This is what ultimately led me to SHIFT. Our model aligned perfectly with that vision: fewer patients, deeper relationships, more data, and more time to practice truly proactive preventive medicine.

What moments in your training or career most shaped how you think about heart health today?

Early in my career, I saw too many patients suffer major cardiovascular events that were technically unexpected, but in reality were predictable years earlier. That disconnect, between what we could have known and what we acted on, left a lasting impression on me. It reinforced my belief that earlier, smarter intervention really matters.

Why do you believe proactive cardiovascular care plays such a central role in longevity and healthspan?

Cardiovascular health is foundational to the rest of your health. Your brain, muscles, kidneys, and metabolic systems all depend on healthy circulation. If you protect your heart and vascular system early, you preserve function across nearly every domain of aging.

The State of Heart Health Today

Cardiovascular disease is still the leading cause of death. Why do you think that is, despite medical advancements?

Despite remarkable advances in science and medicine, our traditional healthcare system still focuses heavily on late-stage disease, usually after symptoms become life-threatening or start interfering with daily life. Even though traditional medicine can treat heart attacks and strokes very well, we often intervene too late. LLifestyle, metabolic dysfunction, chronic inflammation, and stress continue to drive up risk long before patients enter the medical system.

What are the most common misconceptions patients have about heart disease and risk?

Many people believe that if they feel fine they must be healthy, or if they exercise, they’re at low-risk for cardiovascular disease. Unfortunately, the absence of symptoms is not the absence of risk. Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is known as the silent killer specifically because of its lack of symptoms for years until it progresses to a hypertensive emergency. 

At what point should someone really start thinking about their cardiovascular health?

Ideally, business executives and all individuals should be taking heart health seriously in their 20s and 30s. Risk accumulates over time, so the earlier you understand your personal risk profile, the more leverage you have to change your trajectory. 

SHIFT’s Philosophy for Cardiovascular Care

How would you describe your approach to cardiovascular care with SHIFT?

SHIFT offers a data-driven, longitudinal, and personalized approach for all areas of medicine, including cardiovascular health. We combine advanced testing that can uncover hidden risk factors long before they become a problem, including: 

• Advanced lipid panels
• Inflammatory markers
• Insulin resistance testing
• Cardiovascular genetic risk screenings
• Multi-cancer early detection screenings
• Epigenetic testing of biological age and age pacing
• Gut microbiome testing
• Whole genome sequencing

With this information our concierge physicians, registered dieticians, expert fitness trainers, and physical therapists can give personalized lifestyle optimization and ongoing monitoring that includes custom nutrition and fitness programs that fit seamlessly into your life. 

How does a concierge model like SHIFT allow you to improve outcomes related to cardiovascular disease?

Time and access. As the best concierge physicians in Chicago, we can take the time necessary to analyze trends, respond early, educate, and adjust plans continuously. A luxury for all of our patients, not just a few. That level of engagement simply isn’t possible in the traditional healthcare space.

Why is prevention and early detection so critical when it comes to heart health?

Prevention is always the best treatment for cardiovascular diseases. Once significant plaque or vascular damage develops, reversal is slow. A proactive approach gives us the greatest return on investment in terms of years of healthy life preserved.

Advanced and Preventive Cardiology at SHIFT

What types of advanced cardiovascular testing or risk assessments do you prioritize at SHIFT?

We focus on identifying risk before symptoms emerge, using advanced screenings like: 

• Lipid Profiling: This goes beyond a standard cholesterol panel by measuring particle size and number and gives a much more accurate picture of actual arterial risk than total cholesterol alone.
• Inflammatory Markers: Chronic low-grade inflammation is a core driver of atherosclerosis. These high-sensitivity tests can detect elevated levels suggesting active plaque instability or vascular inflammation even when lipids look normal.
• Cardiovascular Genetic Risk Screening: This testing identifies inherited mutations and variants that predispose someone to early heart disease, giving us an estimate of lifetime risk and allowing for earlier and more aggressive intervention.
• Epigenetic Testing of Biological Age and Age Pacing: DNA clocks estimate how fast your cells are biologically aging relative to your chronological age. Since cardiovascular disease is heavily age-driven, a biological age significantly older than chronological age signals accelerated vascular aging and higher risk. This can also be tracked over time to see if lifestyle or treatment interventions are actually working at a cellular level.
• Coronary Calcium Scoring (CAC): A low-dose CT scan that detects and quantifies calcified plaque in the coronary arteries. 
• Coronary CT Angiography (CCTA): As one of the most comprehensive non-invasive tools for evaluating coronary artery disease before symptoms appear, this more detailed CT scan uses contrast dye that visualizes the coronary arteries directly, identifying both calcified and non-calcified plaque. 

How do you tailor heart health plans for patients who may look healthy on the surface?

Many high-performing business professionals appear fit but carry hidden risk. At SHIFT, we rely on objective multi-layer data, not appearances, to guide our strategy.

For SHIFT Members

How do you help busy, high-performing professionals integrate heart-healthy habits without overwhelming them?

Our fitness experts, registered dietitians, and concierge primary care doctors all prioritize high-impact, realistic changes. This allows us to help business executives to make small, consistent improvements in sleep, nutrition, movement, and stress management that compound over time to improve health and longevity.

How does optimizing heart health impact aging, cognition, and long-term vitality?

Vascular health directly influences brain function, energy, and resilience. This is why it’s so important for business professionals. Many age-related declines actually start as a blood flow problem.

Discover the Best Interdisciplinary Healthcare Team in Chicago for Advanced Diagnostic Testing, Risk Factor Assessments, and Personalized Lifestyle Optimization

Your heart health is not something you can afford to ignore. It’s something you need to start actively managing right now. The earlier you invest, the greater your return in energy, clarity, and years of living a healthy, active life. 

At SHIFT, our mission is to help members move from reactive medicine to proactive healthspan optimization, making cardiovascular disease become something we prevent, not simply treat.