IC-OS Working Group Webinars: Use of CMR For the Evaluation of Myocarditis

Matthias G. Friedrich earned his MD at the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen/Nuernberg, Germany. He completed his training as an internist and cardiologist at the Charité University Medicine Center, Humboldt University in Berlin. After appointments with the University of Calgary and the Université de Montréal/Montreal Heart Institute, he joined the Departments of Medicine and Diagnostic Radiology as a Full Professor, and also acts as Chief of Cardiovascular Imaging and Scientific Director of the Courtois Cardiovascular Signature Program at the McGill University Health Centre. He also has an appointment with the Department of Medicine at Heidelberg University in Germany. He is staff cardiologist at the Royal Victoria Hospital and an active researcher with a strong interest in novel imaging techniques. He has focused the research activities of his team of 20+ researchers on cardiac MRI of myocardial injury, including acute ischemic and inflammatory conditions. His scientific interest is focused on new approaches for diagnosing cardiovascular disease using Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (CMR) Imaging, with a special interest in novel diagnostic approaches to visualize heart disease. Currently, his team is working on Simultaneous Multiparametric Acquisition and Reconstruction Technique CMR, oxygenation- sensitive CMR, and the diagnostic utility of breathing maneuvers in diagnosing coronary vascular diseases. He authored or co-authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, with over 20,000 citations (current h index: 61). He was the Founding President of the Canadian Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance and President of the Society for Cardiovascular MR (SCMR). Dr. Friedrich is also Scientific Director of the Courtois Cardiovascular Signature Program, a long-term initiative for developing AI-informed strategies for personalized cardiovascular health management.

Professor Vanessa Ferreira has expertise in the study of heart disease using cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR). Her doctorate research in Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Oxford focused on CMR myocardial tissue characterisation, converging with MR physics technical development towards clinical translation of myocardial T1-mapping. Briefly, each tissue type in the body has a magnetic property called T1 relaxation time, which can be measured (in milliseconds) using MRI scans. The heart has a specific range of normal T1 values, deviation from which may be indicative of disease. T1-mapping generates a pixel-by-pixel T1-map of the heart, which can locate small areas of disease in a numerical manner. Thus, T1-mapping provides a quantitative way to examine the heart, does not require any injection of contrast agents or radiation, and produces coloured MRI images which give additional information compared to traditional MR images. One of her goals is to advance CMR methods to gain more insight into heart disease in ways not previously possible, in a non-invasive way. Another is to minimise the need for injection of contrast agents for diagnostic images, allowing more patients to benefit from cardiac MRI, eliminating adverse reactions to contrast agents, and savings in time and cost. Working with MR physicists, engineers, biomedical imaging experts and clinician-scientists from a range of specialties, Vanessa's research at the OCMR is highly collaborative and interdisciplinary. Vanessa also delivers CMR education, and supervises DPhil, MSc and medical students in CMR research at the OCMR, based at the John Radcliffe Hospital.