Executive Committee

Dr. Prachi Agarwal, Professor of Radiology is Division director of Cardiothoracic Radiology and Co-Director of the Congenital Cardiovascular MRI program at University of Michigan. She obtained a Masters in Clinical Research Design and Statistical Analysis from the School of Public Health. She has over 100 publications and has presented at conferences nationally and internationally. She is the Editor-in-chief of Seminars in Roentgenology and Chair of the American Board of Radiology (Cardiac Imaging Subsection).

Daniel Vargas, MD is associate professor and section chief of cardiothoracic imaging at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus where he also serves as the cardiothoracic imaging fellowship co-director.

Dr. Matthew Cham is a Professor of Radiology, the Director of Cardiac MRI, and the Cardiothoracic Imaging Fellowship Director at The University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle.

Dr. Cham attended the University of Rochester School of Medicine through its Early Admission program, earning an MD degree with Distinction in Research. He completed his radiology residency at the University of Rochester where he received the Radiological Society of North America’s Resident Research Award for his work on pulmonary CT angiography and thromboembolic disease. He subsequently completed a Thoracic Radiology fellowship at Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City and a Cardiac MRI fellowship at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London.

Before joining the University of Washington, Dr. Cham was the Director of Cardiac Radiology at the Weill Cornell and Icahn Mount Sinai Medical Centers in New York City where he helped to create one of the largest cardiovascular CT/MRI programs in the country. He has been awarded Radiology Teacher of the Year at Cornell, Mount Sinai, and the University of Washington.

Dr. Cham currently serves as the Chair of Cardiac Online Longitudinal Assessment in the American Board of Radiology and Chair of Enduring Materials in the American College of Radiology. He has authored over 80 peer-reviewed publications and textbook chapters in cardiothoracic imaging. He has delivered more than 200 invited lectures in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Dr. Elsie T. Nguyen is an Associate Professor of Radiology at University Medical Imaging Toronto, University of Toronto. She completed her thoracic imaging fellowship at the University of British Columbia and cardiovascular imaging fellowship at Stanford University. Dr. Nguyen is the Vice-Chair of on SIDE (Support, Inclusion, Diversity and Equity), and the Cardiothoracic Division Lead for Medical Imaging at the University of Toronto. She is also the President of the Canadian Society of Thoracic Radiology (CSTR).

She is passionate about education and has won several teaching awards at the undergraduate and post-graduate level and leads several research initiatives including creating a joint Breast and Cardiovascular Screening Program, optimization and utilization of coronary CT angiography among primary care physicians and MR imaging of non-ischemic cardiomyopathies.

Mentoring, sponsoring and coaching trainees and faculty to achieve their full potential is a passion and source of joy and meaning in her day to day work.

Dr. Stefan Loy Zimmerman is a Professor in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the Departments of Radiology and Medicine (Cardiology). He specializes in cardiothoracic imaging and is the Division Director of Diagnostic Imaging and Director of Cardiac Imaging. He is the program director for the Cardiothoracic Imaging Fellowship in Radiology. Dr. Zimmerman earned his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He completed both a radiology residency and a cardiovascular imaging fellowship at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on the use of CT and MR imaging in the diagnosis and management of cardiovascular diseases. He has particular interest in the use of cardiac imaging for management of arrhythmias, diagnosis and prognosis of arrhythmogenic right and left ventricular cardiomyopathy, and pulmonary hypertension.

Dr. Dennie is a Professor of Radiology at the University of Ottawa, the Division Head of Cardiac and Thoracic Imaging at The Ottawa Hospital and the co-director of Cardiac Radiology and MRI at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. She is the immediate past and founding president of the Canadian Society of Thoracic Radiology.

Her primary interest is in the education domain. She is the past Chair of the Diagnostic Radiology Examination Committee of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. She has also been director of Undergraduate Radiology medical education, Radiology residency program director, Cardiac Radiology fellowship director and director of Continuing Medical Education in the Department of Radiology at the University of Ottawa. As CME director, she organized over 50 national and 5 international CME conferences and received the Award of Excellence in CPD from the University of Ottawa in 2019. In 2021, she also received the Woman Leadership Award.

She has 140 publications in peer-reviewed journals, has written 7 book chapters and is Associate Editor for Radiology: Cardiothoracic Imaging. She has given close to 200 invited presentations at national and international meetings including the RSNA, IDKD, ESCR, ARRS, STR, NASCI, ATS, World Congress of Thoracic Imaging and the CAR.