Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Group

The Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Group focuses on developing state-of-the-art cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging techniques to better understand heart disease. Through this, we are seeking to improve diagnosis and develop new treatment options for patients with the disease.

We are also looking to gain a better understanding of associated imaging and diagnostic techniques including echocardiography, x-ray computed tomography (CT), cardiovascular nuclear imaging and electrocardiography (ECG).

Our current research focuses on the challenges related to:

  • Inefficient filling of the heart – diastolic dysfunction
  • Thick walls of the heart – left ventricular hypertrophy
  • A reduction in blood flow to the smallest vessels of the heart – coronary microvascular dysfunction
  • How these disease manifestations relate to heart failure, in particular heart failure with preserved ejection fraction
  • Chest pain and the role of cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging

Our research team is part of a collaborative, global network of researchers and clinicians working to provide accurate diagnostic methods, earlier detection, earlier treatment, and decreased morbidity and mortality from heart disease.

Our group brings together a multidisciplinary team including cardiologists, radiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons, anaesthetists, cardiovascular physiologists, histologists, molecular biologists, sonographers, radiographers, magnetic resonance physicists, biomedical engineers, image processing scientists and applied mathematicians.


Professor Martin Ugander

MD, PhD, FCSANZ
Professor of Cardiac Imaging

Professor Martin Ugander, MD, PhD, is since 2019, Professor of Cardiac Imaging at the University of Sydney. He is a physician and translational/clinical researcher in cardiac imaging with a focus on MRI. He was born 1975 in Sweden, and grew up in the USA. He received his MD in 2001 and PhD in 2006 from Lund University, Sweden. 2009-2011 he was a Post-doctoral Research Fellow in Cardiovascular MRI and CT at the National Institutes of Health, USA. 2011-2019 he undertook clinical training in the medical specialty Clinical Physiology at Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden, where he also founded and led the Karolinska Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance clinical and translational research group at the Karolinska Institute.

Professor Ugander has a research interest in non-invasive cardiac imaging in general and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in particular, with a focus on the diagnoses ischemic heart disease, myocarditis, and heart failure, as well as basic cardiac pumping physiology. His research spans technical, pre-clinical translational, and clinical cardiovascular imaging using cardiac MRI, echocardiography, myocardial perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), x-ray computed tomography (CT), and electrocardiography (ECG).

He is main or co-supervisor for several PhD students and post-doctoral researchers with backgrounds in medicine, biomedical engineering and/or MR physics. He has been main supervisor for six and co-supervisor for seven completed PhDs and main supervisor for 5 completed post-docs. He has been main supervisor for over 30 medical student research projects, Master's theses, Honours projects, or equivalent, many of which have been undertaken jointly together with international collaborators.

Associate Professor Rebecca Kozor

BSc (Med), MBBS, PhD, FRACP, FCSANZ
Senior Lecturer, Northern Clinical School

Dr Rebecca Kozor is a cardiologist and physician-researcher at the University of Sydney and Royal North Shore Hospital where she co-directs the clinical CMR service, in addition to also doing echocardiography and cardiac CT. She is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney and co-directs the USyd CMR Research Group, as well as being involved in undergraduate and postgraduate medical teaching.

Dr Kozor completed her cardiology training in 2014 and then did a CMR clinical research fellowship in 2015 at Barts Heart Centre, London, UK, under Professor James Moon. She was awarded her PhD in CMR at the University of Sydney in 2016. She also has Level 3 certification with EuroCMR and SCMR. In 2018 she was awarded both a New South Wales Health Early-Mid Career Fellowship and a NHMRC Early Career Fellowship (having to decline the latter) to establish her research program that spans across clinical and health economics research in the field of CMR and cardiovascular disease.

Dr Kozor is actively involved in education and advocacy of CMR and cardiovascular research. She is Treasurer of the Australia New Zealand CMR Working Group, Co-organiser/chair of Sydney CMR meetings and CMR Australia meetings, Associate Editor of SCMR Case of the Week, Member of the Northern Sydney Local Health District Human Research Ethics Committee, and Honorary Board Director of Heart Research Australia.

Her current research interests include cost-effectiveness of CMR in chest pain; Rapid access chest pain clinics in Australia - patient satisfaction, cost-benefit, and outcomes; Advanced ECG in chest pain; Cardiac involvement in Fabry disease.

Dr Enid Eslick - Research Development Manager

Oneka Guneratne - Research Assistant

Nithin Iyer - PhD Student

Lynn Khor - PhD Student

Angus Fung - PhD Student

Dana Kim – PhD Student

Sascha Swaraj - MPhil Student

Nithin Iyer - PhD Student

Zaidon Al-Falahi - PhD Student

Nayeni Kuhasri - Honours Student

Jason Lin - Honours Student

Paul Busch - Honours Student

Revan Kamaragoda - Honours Student

Our Sydney team is closely integrated with the Karolinska Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance group at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

Additional international collaborators include University College London and Barts Heart Centre, University of Birmingham, National Institutes of Health, Duke University, University of Pittsburgh, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, National Heart Centre Singapore, University of Alberta, Lund University, Umeå University, Comenius University, University of Queensland, University of New South Wales.

Our current research focuses on the challenges related to:

  • Inefficient filling of the heart – diastolic dysfunction
  • Thick walls of the heart – left ventricular hypertrophy
  • A reduction in blood flow to the smallest vessels of the heart – coronary microvascular dysfunction
  • How these disease manifestations relate to heart failure, in particular heart failure with preserved ejection fraction
  • Chest pain and the role of cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging

Our research team is part of a collaborative, global network of researchers and clinicians working to provide accurate diagnostic methods, earlier detection, earlier treatment, and decreased morbidity and mortality from heart disease.


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