New York Cardiovascular Imaging Institute Established to Detect, Identify Silent Heart Disease

To help reduce the difficulties caused by cardiovascular disease, the leading killer in the United States, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (New York, NY, USA) and Weill Cornell Medical College (New York, NY, USA) have created the Dalio Institute of Cardiovascular Imaging. Raymond T. Dalio, a life trustee of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, has made a gift of USD 20 million through his Dalio Foundation in support of the institute.

The Dalio Institute of Cardiovascular Imaging will utilize a multidisciplinary, multimodality approach to the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease, with a focus on a better determination about prevention of heart disease in at-risk individuals, which will ultimately save lives. Its objective is to develop new technology, integrate, and educate, goals that will be accomplished through cutting-edge research, the creation of new clinical paradigms, and dissemination of knowledge.

Dr. James K. Min, a specialist in cardiovascular imaging and a physician-scientist who has led key large-scale multicenter clinical trials, has been appointed director of the Dalio Institute of Cardiovascular Imaging. Dr. Min is an attending physician at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and a full-time faculty member in the department of radiology at Weill Cornell Medical College. He joins NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell from the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles, CA, USA), where he was director of cardiac imaging research and co-director of cardiac imaging.

The Institute, focused on optimizing diagnosis of cardiovascular disease, will not only use cutting-edge applications such as computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and positron emission tomography (PET) scanners, but will also concentrate on the development of innovative next-generation technologies and diagnostic tests. Applying a team-based strategy that exploits the expertise of physicians and scientists in radiology, cardiology, genetics, proteomics, and computational biology, the institute’s principal research initiative is to identify the “vulnerable plaque,” or the specific coronary artery lesion that is responsible for a future heart attack or sudden cardiac death.

“The vulnerable plaque is the holy grail in the diagnostic work-up of individuals with suspected coronary artery disease, and its elusive nature has precluded the timely treatment of millions of high-risk individuals,” stated Dr. Min. “We will apply an array of innovative hardware and software imaging technologies to improve identification of the vulnerable plaque, and then seek to apply these findings in large-scale multicenter clinical trials and registries to encourage full integration of our research findings into clinical practice.”

The Dalio Institute of Cardiovascular Imaging will utilize the latest imaging technologies combined with other sophisticated diagnostic tests, including blood markers of inflammation, protein expression, and metabolism. The clinical program will serve patients in the emergency department, as well as in the outpatient and inpatient setting. Three specific initiatives within the clinical program will underline early identification of heart disease in women, ethnic minorities, and young patients with a family history of premature heart disease.

The Institute’s educational objective is to focus on disseminating knowledge of the latest developments in cardiovascular imaging through the education of physicians, physician trainees, and allied health professionals through educational curricula and symposia. “More than half of people who die from sudden heart attacks never knew they were at risk because their underlying heart conditions had never been diagnosed,” said Dr. Min. “Many heart attacks can be prevented if people know of the extent and severity of their asymptomatic heart disease and are properly treated. By bringing together a multidisciplinary group of experts, the Dalio Institute of Cardiovascular Imaging will not just offer the latest imaging techniques for early detection, but will also develop disruptive technologies to fight the battle against heart disease. Ultimately, these pioneering methods aim to challenge current clinical paradigms in order to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with cardiovascular disease.”

“Establishing the Dalio Institute of Cardiovascular Imaging is an incredibly significant milestone in our fight against heart disease,” said Dr. Steven J. Corwin, CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and a cardiologist by training. “While modern medicine offers highly sophisticated tools for treating heart disease, we still have a long way to go in terms of identifying high-risk individuals with early-stage disease so that we can prevent catastrophic outcomes and save lives. Dr. Min’s unique background, expertise, and clinical research experience make him ideally suited to lead the institute and its groundbreaking initiatives. We are thrilled that Dr. Min has joined us, and we are extraordinarily grateful to Ray Dalio for his vision and generous support.”

NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center is one of the leading academic medical worldwide, and is comprised of the teaching hospital NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medical College, the medical school of Cornell University. Weill Cornell physicians and scientists have been responsible for many medical advances, including the development of the Pap test for cervical cancer; the first successful embryo-biopsy pregnancy and birth in the United States; the synthesis of penicillin; the first clinical trial for Parkinson’s disease gene therapy; the first indication of bone marrow’s key role in tumor growth; and, most recently, the world’s first effective use of deep brain stimulation to treat a minimally conscious brain-injured patient. Weill Cornell Medical College maintains a strong global presence in Austria, Brazil, Haiti, Tanzania, Turkey, and Qatar.

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