Cardiovascular Imaging Research Center

Overview

The Cardiovascular Imaging Research Center (CIRC) @ MGH and HMS brings together a group of researchers that are using advanced cardiovascular imaging to improve patient health. CIRC creates new opportunities to use the combined power of AI and Imaging for biomarker discovery and improvements in population health, multisystem imaging to unlock the secrets of how external stress leads to brain activation that advances atherosclerosis, and how to address the excess risk of cardiovascular disease among patients with cancer.
 
Our goal is to perform research that is uniquely impactful and potentially could affect patient care and clinical practice. As such, we thrive to break down silos and cross boundaries. We are asking the difficult questions for today’s major healthcare problems.

Are there mechanistically sound pathophysiological pathways that explain novel insights? Do new markers have the potential to improve health outcomes in an economically viable fashion?
 
For this, we are pioneering multisystem imaging biomarker discovery - from coronary atherosclerosis to vascular inflammation to amygdala activity to myocardial fibrosis to deep learning based biological age – and conduct benchmark clinical trials – Randomized Trial to Prevent Vascular Events in HIV, myocardial fibrosis and function after anthracyclines using MR (STOP-CA), the effect of methotrexate on vascular inflammation with PET in HIV (CIRT PET sub-study), the effect of statins on myocardial fibrosis and fat in HIV (REPRIEVE-MR), and the effect of novel immune therapies for cancer on cardiovascular structure and function.

If you are interested in collaboration or application, please email us at circmgh@partners.org.