PhD in Cardiovascular Sciences

This PhD project will be conducted at the Cardiovascular Imaging & Dynamics laboratory of the Department Cardiovascular Sciences (KU Leuven, located within the Medical Image Research Center (MIRC) at university hospital Gasthuisberg, Belgium). /nWithin the MIRC, the PhD candidate will work closely with engineers, physicists, clinicians and medical scientists, fostering collaboration within a dynamic research team. /nThis PhD project is embedded within the COMPASS project (“Cardio-Oncology Multidisciplinary Patient Assistance Solution”), a consortium of 67 partners structured around three core pillars. The first pillar focuses on extraction and validation of novel biomarkers and parameters for cardiotoxicity. The second pillar aims to develop and implement AI-powered risk stratification models and real-time monitoring systems to enhance early detection, personalized treatment and prevention of cardiovascular toxicity in cardio-oncology patients. The third and last pillar aims to establish sustainable and patient-centered cardio-oncology care pathways. /nThe PhD will mainly focus on automating analysis in high-frame-rate echocardiography, with a particular focus on shear wave elastography. The main goal of this project is to automate the pipeline in order to prepare the technique for validation in large patients cohorts and integration into clinical workflow. In addition, the student will also contribute, to a lesser extent, to the development of an AI-based clinical decision support system. /nDuring this project, the student will closely collaborate with the Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging at Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU, Trondheim) and GE Healthcare (Oslo, Norway).