Dr. Alex Barker, Assistant Professor of Radiology who specializes in cardiovascular MRI and biomedical engineering, will be collaborating with Dr. Paul Fedak, a cardiac surgeon at the University of Calgary, on a multi-million dollar NIH R01 grant dedicated to researching personalized treatments for bicuspid aortic valve (BAV). Teams here at Northwestern and in Calgary will run a five-year clinical study on 450 patients. Recruitment for the study is already underway and researchers are beginning their work. They will be using 4D-flow MRI to investigate bloodflow, as well as utilizing tissue analysis. This groundbreaking research will help find a way to assess those diagnosed with BAV in order to identify complications that may be associated with their particular case.
You can read more about these researchers and the goals of this grant at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, as well as The Calgary Herald and Global News.
