Her academic work focused heavily on human in vivo and cardiometabolic disease. Dr Shankar lead the Cardiometabolic Translational group at Merck for nearly 7 years before moving to lead the Cardiometabolic Research group at Eli Lilly for 3 years including leading their NASH program. Throughout her 10 years at both Merck and Eli Lilly, Dr Shankar focused extensively on clinical biomarkers, leading to her becoming the FNIH Industry Co-Chair for the NIMBLE Consortium. Now at NGM Biopharmaceuticals she is the Head of Cardiometabolic Translational Medicine & Early Clinical Development.