St Bartholomew’s trainees scoop prestigious cardiology prizes
Two cardiology trainees from St Bartholomew’s Hospital have been recognised by the Royal Society of Medicine for their outstanding research projects.
Dr Zahra Raisi-Estabragh (pictured) was awarded the Society’s prestigious President’s Gold Medal for her work to develop a new image analysis toolkit called CMR radiomics.
The technique extracts very detailed information about the shape and texture of the heart from MRI scans, beyond what is available through conventional imaging.
It could improve our ability to identify important diseases.
The prize includes an award of £1,000.
Her primary PhD supervisor is Professor Steffen Petersen, a consultant cardiologist and clinical director for research at Barts Heart Centre at St Bartholomew’s Hospital.
Dr Andreas Seraphim was awarded a runner up prize of £500 for developing a new way to evaluate blood flow between the heart and lung using heart MRI scans.
The technique uses artificial intelligence to extract information during routine MRI scans. It could provide a way to predict adverse clinical events across a range of cardiovascular disease.
His primary PhD supervisor is Dr Charlotte Manisty.
The two trainees were victorious in the only two cardiovascular research categories in these national awards which took place on 14 June.
Dr Raisi-Estabragh said: "It was an honour to present my research in the competition and I’m immensely proud to win. "I would like to thank my amazing mentors: professors Steffen Petersen, Patricia Munroe, and Nick Harvey, and my excellent collaborators at the University of Barcelona led by Professor Karim Lekadir.
"I’m also very grateful to the UK Biobank and the VOLUMES resource organisers and participants, without whom this work would not be possible and the British Heart Foundation for funding my research.”
Professor Petersen said: "I would like to sincerely congratulate Dr Raisi-Estabragh on winning this highly competitive prize. Dr Raisi-Estabragh is an exceptionally talented young clinical academic with huge potential as a future leader in the field. She presented an impressive body of work which was of outstandingly high quality.
"This important achievement is a testament to her talent, dedication, and leadership.”
Dr Seraphim (pictured) said: "It was a privilege to participate in such a prestigious competition. I'm very grateful to my supervisors Dr Manisty and Professor James Moon for their support and guidance and to everyone in the cardiac imaging department for making clinical research possible.
"I would also like to thank our collaborators at the National Institute of Health in the US led by Dr Peter Kellman for their support and immense contribution to this project. Lastly and the British Heart Foundation for funding this work."
Well done and congratulations from everyone at St Bartholomew’s.