Declan O’Regan (Head, MR Facility) has just been awarded the prestigious Roentgen Professorship, given annually by the Royal College of Radiologists. The awardee receives funding to visit between six and eight UK academic centres for the purpose of stimulating and encouraging research in clinical radiology. It provides an opportunity for inspiring the next generation of clinical academics in imaging. “Most radiologists work in a clinical setting,” explains Declan, “and academic radiology is under-represented nationally”

“My message is that the future of discovery in imaging research rests with radiologists collaborating with a diverse range of scientists including mathematicians, geneticists and engineers,” says Declan. “Through this national series of talks I will show how computational imaging of the heart is helping us to understand the genetic causes of cardiac disease.” Declan hopes the Professorship will help to raise the profile of academic radiology and encourage medics to consider taking up basic research.

Declan works together with Professor Stuart Cook who heads up the CSC’s Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Genetics Group. Their research programme uses novel imaging techniques and computational approaches to understand genotype-phenotype relationships, specifically for the heart. The team has already scanned and genotyped 1500 healthy volunteers. The MR scans of these people are being used to create 3D models (pictured) to better understand the heart, both in health and disease.

Image: Computational model of the heart extracted from MR imaging.