Advanced Cardiac Imaging: Cardiac Computed Tomography (CT)

Dr. Ming-Yen Ng

Clinical Associate Professor, the Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Course director for Cardiac CT and CMR MOOC

The University of Hong Kong

Dr. Ng is a Clinical Associate Professor at the Department of Diagnostic Radiology, The University of Hong Kong; and HKU Cardiac Imaging Massive Open Online Course Director.

Dr Ng undertook his radiology training in Manchester where he underwent subspecialist cardiothoracic imaging training for 2 years and a 1 year cardiac imaging fellowship at Toronto General Hospital before coming to Hong Kong. He is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, Society of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR), and Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT).

He sits on various committees for the SCMR, SCCT and RSNA and is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance and Journal of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography. He is a member of the SCCT Board of Directors and the current chair of the SCMR Education Committee.

He was awarded the HKU Teaching Innovation Award, Gold Award for Life Sciences by the QS Reimagine Education Award and EdX Finalist 2021 and 2023.

He is actively involved in research with interests in quantitative stress CMR, coronary artery disease, diabetes, heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and COVID-19. He has >80 peer-reviewed publications in JACC, JACC Cardiovascular Imaging, Circulation Cardiovascular Imaging, European Heart Journal Cardiovascular Imaging and Radiology.

Dr. Varut Vince Vardhanabhuti

Clinical Assistant Professor

The University of Hong Kong

Dr. Vince Vardhanabhuti, MBBS, BSc, FRCR, LMCHK, PhD, is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Diagnostic Radiology, The University of Hong Kong. He completed his medical degree at Guy's, King's and St Thomas' School of Medicine in London in the United Kingdom. He had subsequent training in London, Oxford, Plymouth, Exeter in the UK whilst also completing a PhD during his residency. He completed a radiology fellowship in cardiovascular imaging at Imperial College London. He is passionate about using technology in education and has served as Microsoft Cloud Research Software Fellow and an Amazon Faculty Ambassador in AWS Educate Cloud Ambassador Program.

Guest speaker: Dr. Suhny Abbara

Professor

UT Southwestern Medical Center

Suhny Abbara, M.D., is a Professor of Radiology at UT Southwestern Medical Center and Chief of its Cardiothoracic Imaging Division. He also serves as Chief of Cardiothoracic Imaging at Parkland Health & Hospital System. His clinical interests include cardiovascular imaging and lung cancer screening.

Originally from Germany, Dr. Abbara earned his medical degree at Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf. He completed his residency in diagnostic radiology at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C., and in surgery at the University of Hawaii Surgical Residency Program in Honolulu. He received advanced training in cardiac imaging through a fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Prior to joining the UT Southwestern faculty in 2013, Dr. Abbara was Director of Clinical Cardiac Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital. At Harvard Medical School, he was Director of Education for the Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (MR) and Computed Tomography (CT) Program and an Associate Professor of Radiology.

Research and clinical practice
Dr. Abbara focuses his research on cardiac and thoracic CT and MRI and its uses in surgical procedures, identification of imaging biomarkers to predict post-procedure outcomes, and spectral detector CT. In the clinical setting, he specializes in thoracic imaging, cardiac MRI, and cardiac CTA, as well as coronary calcium scoring.

Dr. Abbara is an active member of numerous national and international professional organizations, including the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography, for which he serves on the executive committee and is the Immediate Past President (President 2018-2019), and the American College of Radiology, for which he chairs the Appropriateness Criteria expert panels on Cardiac Imaging. Dr. Abbara is past President of the Certification Board of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography.

Educating, editing, and lecturing
Dr. Abbara has authored or co-authored more than 280 peer-reviewed publications, five textbooks, some in multiple editions, and several book chapters. He is Editor-in-Chief for the RSNA journal Radiology: Cardiothoracic Imaging and has been Associate Editor or Editorial Board Member for several international medical imaging journals, including the Journal for Cardiovascular Computed Tomography, the International Journal for Cardiovascular Imaging, the Journal of Thoracic Imaging and others. In addition to hundreds of invited lectures at scientific and CME meetings, Dr. Abbara has been invited to present lectures at medical and educational institutions throughout North America, including Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Harvard Medical School (Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston), Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Emory University in Atlanta, the University of Ottawa in Canada, Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., Ignacio Chavez National Heart Institute in Mexico City, the University of Toronto in Canada, Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, and the University of Colorado in Denver, and several others.

Guest speaker: Dr. Ed Nicol

Consultant cardiologist

Royal Brompton Hospital and Imperial College

Ed Nicol MD MBA DAvMed FRCP FRCR FRAeS FACC FSCCT is a consultant cardiologist who works at both the Royal Brompton and Chelsea & Westminster Hospitals in London. He is an honorary senior lecturer at both Imperial College, London (Cardiology) and Keele University (Healthcare Leadership) where he gained his Doctorate and MBA respectively. He has published over 200 original papers, book chapters and books covering cardiovascular CT, cardiology, aviation medicine, and healthcare leadership.

He is the Secretary of SCCT, Chair of the SCCT Education committee and sits on the SCCT Board of Directors. Additionally, he is a past Chair of the UK cardiovascular imaging Council, a former UK Royal College of Radiologists’ Travelling Professor of Cardiovascular Imaging and Past President of the British Society of Cardiovascular Imaging and British Society of Cardiovascular CT.

Guest speaker: Dr. Shihua Zhao

Professor

Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences

Dr. Shihua ZHAO is a Professor of Radiology, specialising in cardiovascular imaging, cardiac catheterization and intervention in Fuwai Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, National Centre for Cardiovascular Diseases in China. He is currently serving as the chair of the Department of MRI. Dr. Zhao obtained MD and Ph.D. in Peking Union Medical College after his graduation from five-year medical university in Anhui. Dr. Zhao went abroad for further education in Austria and France for a total of four years in 1990s.

Academic Position

1. Membership Committee Chair, Asian Society for Cardiovascular Imaging (ASCI)
2. EC member, Asian Society of Thoracic Imaging (ASTI)
3. FESC, Fellow of European Society of Cardiology (ESC)
4. FACC, Fellow of American College of Cardiology（ACC）
5. EC member and imaging group head, Chinese Society of Cardiology
6. EC member, imaging group head, Radiologic Branch of Chinese Medical Doctor Association
7. Deputy director, Cardiac & Thoracic Committee, Chinese Society of Radiology

Dr. Zhao obtained many grants including key projects supported by the National Natural Science Fund. As the first one in order, he has sequentially won 8 achievement awards including National Science and Technology Award in 2019. In 2013, Dr. Zhao was honoured Prominent Teacher by Peking Union Medical College. In 2015, he won one gold medal from Asian Society for cardiovascular imaging (ASCI). He has published more than 400 scientific papers, among which more than 100 were published in SCI-cited journals, with the highest Impact Factor 24.3 in CIRCULATION.

Guest speaker: Dr. Elsie Nguyen

Associate Professor

University of Toronto

Dr. Elsie Nguyen is an Associate Professor of Radiology, Director of Undergraduate Medical Education for Medical Imaging at the University of Toronto. She is also Director of Cardiac Imaging at Womens’ College Hospital where she started the Cardiac MR and CT Imaging Program. She is the only radiologist in Canada to be certified by the American Society of Echocardiography (level III certification) and the only radiologist currently reporting echocardiograms in a tertiary care academic hospital setting. She is passionate about education and has won numerous teaching awards for both undergraduate and postgraduate teaching. In 2018, University of Toronto medical students voted Dr. Nguyen as “Best Undergraduate Teacher”. Her research interests include microcoil lung nodule localization techniques; cardiac computed tomography optimization techniques and iron overload imaging with magnetic resonance imaging.

Guest speaker: Dr. Mini Pakkal

Assistant Professor

University of Toronto

Dr. Mini Pakkal is Assistant Professor in Medical Imaging at the University of Toronto since 2014. Prior to that she worked as a consultant cardiothoracic radiologist at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS trust, UK from 2007-2013.

She is level 3 SCCT certified in cardiac CT and level 3 SCMR certified in cardiac MR. She was awarded the FSCCT in 2017. She is actively involved in education and is passionate about sharing cardiothoracic knowledge with the international community. She sits on the SCCT committee for continued medical education. Her educational portfolio is strongly reflective of her commitment towards cardiac imaging. She is the Director of cardiac education at the Joint Department of Medical Imaging and Director of the Advanced cardiac CT course at the Advanced Education and Imaging centre at the University of Toronto and co-director of the UK cardiac CT course. She also supervises the medical imaging fellowship program at the University of Toronto in her role as the Fellowship Program Director. She has received several awards for her teaching skills and has been recently awarded the 2019 RSNA international visiting professorship in cardiothoracic education.

Guest speaker: Dr. Jonathan Weir-McCall

Lecturer

University of Cambridge

Jonathan Weir-McCall graduated from the University of Aberdeen in 2002. He entered Radiology training in Guy’s and St. Thomas’ London before moving to the University of Dundee when he was awarded a Clinical Lecturer post there. During his training in Dundee he was awarded a Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Fellowship to undertake a PhD using cardiac MRI to examine the role of arterial stiffening in chronic obstructive pulmonary artery disease. After completing his training in Radiology Jonathan undertook a fellowship in Advanced Cardiac Imaging in St Paul’s Hospital under the auspices of Jonathon Leipsic. During this time he conducted research examining the benefits of cardiac CT in structural and coronary disease, and the potential for computational fluid dynamics to guide and improve the clinical care of coronary artery disease.

Jonathan’s interests lie in cardiothoracic imaging, particularly in the use of CT and MRI for examining the interactions between arterial disease and cardiac function both within the systemic and the pulmonary circulation. He has previously worked on the SCOT-HEART trial and is an Investigator for the PRECISE trial. He has also co-authored the newly updated SCCT guidelines on the role of CTA in the assessment for TAVR. He is a member of the Certification and Accreditation Committee of the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging and is an editorial board member for Radiology: Cardiothoracic Imaging.

Sponsor 1

Consultant

Bayer

Bayer in Radiology

As a true life science company, Bayer understands where treatment starts: With an early and precise diagnosis. Radiologists have a unique ability to provide clear direction during moments of uncertainty in a patient’s clinical journey. Our dedication to quality in everything we do supports Radiologists to focus on patient care – which is everything that counts. Clear Direction > From Diagnosis to Care.

Sponsor 2

Consultant

Circle Cardiovascular Imaging

Circle Cardiovascular Imaging Inc. develops world class, advanced reading and reporting solutions for cardiac imaging. Circle is a prominent company for the global cardiac imaging community bringing together an experienced and qualified team of over 150 people.

Circle's imaging platform, cvi 42 , is the best-in-class cardiovascular imaging reading and reporting solution for cardiac MR, cardiac CT, cardiac Interventional Planning and Electrophysiology. Annually, millions of cardiac exams - in over 1,000 hospitals and in more than 50 countries - are interpreted using cvi 42 , giving physicians the tools to accurately quantify and diagnose complex cardiovascular diseases whilst improving patient outcomes and the effective utilization of healthcare resources. cvi 42 fully embeds AI into one easy to use platform demonstrating capabilities within the same range as expert human readers.

Sponsor 3

Consultant

GE HealthCare

GE HealthCare is a leading global medical technology, pharmaceutical diagnostics, and digital solutions innovator, dedicated to providing integrated solutions, services and data analytics to make clinicians more effective, therapies more precise, and patients healthier and happier. Serving patients and providers for more than 100 years, GE HealthCare is advancing connected and compassionate care, while simplifying the patient’s journey across the care pathway. Together, we’re creating a world where healthcare has no limits. Learn more at www.gehealthcare.com.

Sponsor 4

Consultant

TeraRecon

Our Mission

Providing Excellence Always

At TeraRecon, our mission is to continuously innovate ahead of market demand to provide solutions that impact clinical care across health systems. As a partner with our customers, TeraRecon helps to establish an organization's vision and provide clear ways to accomplish it. We continue to lead the advanced visualization and artificial intelligence industries by incorporating world-class image processing tools into the next-generation of medical image viewing, interpretation, sharing, and collaboration solutions.

Our Culture

Inclusive and Empowering

TeraRecon thrives on sincere engagement both internally and externally. Often, we solve problems by looking at them differently. As an innovator, we believe in the value of ideation and collaboration. Listening intently to each other and our customers allows us to continuously evolve, investing in ideas early to ensure that we create differentiated solutions and services. Our energetic and diverse work environment provides our employees with a greater degree of empowerment and more opportunities for professional development. Our people and our policies ensure that we foster a unique personal connection and commitment between our company and its customers.