Advanced Cardiac Imaging Research

Warren Manning, MD, is the Section Chief of Non-Invasive Cardiac Imaging in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and Professor of Medicine and Radiology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Manning’s areas of expertise include cardiac MRI and cardiac ultrasound/echocardiography. His academic research interests include cardiovascular applications of magnetic resonance (coronary MRI, valvular heart disease, subclinical atherosclerosis, atrial fibrosis in atrial fibrillation and pericarditis), as well as the use of echocardiography for prognosis in valvular heart disease and appropriateness of echocardiographic referrals.

Reza Nezafat, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, is the Scientific Director of the Cardiac MR Center at BIDMC, which develops and clinically translates new CMR techniques with the goal of improving the care of patients with cardiovascular disease.

Currently an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association, Dr. Nezafat serves as Deputy Editor of the Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Associate Editor of the Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance and a charter member for the Medical Imaging Study Section of the National Institutes of Health.

He has received numerous awards for research, mentorship and teaching, including the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine W.S. Moore Young Investigator Award and Outstanding Teaching Award and the American Heart Association Established Investigator Award.

Dr. Nezafat’s research includes the development of novel quantitative imaging methodologies to enable translational cardiovascular imaging research and aid clinical decision-making by providing more accurate diagnostic and prognostic information. His laboratory has been continuously supported by the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association and industry.

Eli Gelfand, MD, is Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Section Chief of Cardiology at BIDMC. He is active in the development of clinical applications of new and rapidly evolving diagnostic imaging modalities, including three-dimensional (3D) and intra-cardiac echocardiography (ICE) and cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging, with a particular focus on imaging support of minimally invasive therapy for valvular and congenital cardiac disease.

Thomas Hauser, MD, is Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director of Nuclear Cardiology at BIDMC. His primary research interest is in the clinical application of advanced methods of cardiovascular imaging, with a particular focus on nuclear cardiology and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging.

Connie Tsao, MD, Instructor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, is a non-invasive cardiologist specializing in cardiovascular imaging, including echocardiography and cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR).

An investigator and co-director of the Echocardiography Laboratory in the Framingham Heart Study, Dr. Tsao focuses her research on noninvasive assessment of cardiovascular structure and function and the epidemiology of subclinical cardiovascular disease, cardiac remodeling, vascular stiffness and heart failure.

Working with the Framingham Heart study, a large population study, Dr. Tsao’s research makes use of advanced imaging tools in echocardiography, CMR and computed tomography for the detection and prognostic evaluation of CVD.

Dr. Tsao’s current projects include:

• The use of CMR to investigate left ventricular function and myocardial characteristics and their relation to vascular stiffness in subgroups of heart failure patients
• The effect of exercise on myocardial tissue characteristics and vascular flow patterns
• The detection and evaluation of myocardial fibrosis in preclinical tests of cardiovascular disease.

Jordan Strom, MD, is Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a non-invasive cardiologist, specializing in echocardiography and cardiovascular magnetic resonance at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Strom was the inaugural fellow and is a current faculty investigator at the Richard A. and Susan F. Smith Center for Outcomes Research in Cardiology. His research involves evaluation of the impact of public policies and care structures pertaining to cardiovascular disease on health outcomes. In particular, he specializes in the use of large administrative, registry, and clinical trial data to refine prediction for a variety of cardiovascular disease states, especially valvular heart disease and in evaluating trends and comparative effectiveness of cardiovascular therapies. He is currently an ad hoc reviewer for the Journal of Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (JCMR) and Assistant Reviewer for the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcome.