Contact
Office
(434) 924-0270
Location
MR5, Room 2013
Lab
​MR5, Room 2237
415 Lane Road
Charlottesville, VA 22908

Frederick H. Epstein, Ph.D.

Mac Wade Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Radiology and Medical Imaging Associate Vice President for Research, University of Virginia
Contact
Office
(434) 924-0270
Location
MR5, Room 2013
Lab
​MR5, Room 2237
415 Lane Road
Charlottesville, VA 22908
Google Scholar Research Summary Biomedical Imaging at UVA BME Research Landing Page

About

Fred Epstein is recognized for his contributions to the field of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. He has been a world leader in advancing MRI myocardial strain imaging by developing and applying the cine DENSE (displacement encoding using stimulated echoes) MRI method. He has also made important contributions to accelerated MRI methods and to methods and applications of preclinical MRI in mouse models of heart disease.

Dr. Epstein has chaired the Science Committee of the Society for Cardiovascular MRI (SCMR) (2008) and the ISMRM Cardiac Study Group (2009). He served as an ad hoc member of the NIH NIBIB Board of Scientific Counselors in 2012 and as an international reviewer for the South African Medical Research Council 5-year review of the University of Cape Town Medical Imaging Research Unit (2010). He was recently a member of the Board of Trustees for the SCMR (2013-2015), and he recently served as a standing member of the NIH Study Section Biomedical Imaging Technology A (2012-2016). He is currently a Deputy Editor for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (2011 – present, the leading technical journal devoted to MRI physics and engineering), and is a member of the American Heart Association Mid-Atlantic Affiliate Research Committee (2014-2017).

Dr. Epstein was the only biomedical engineer invited to speak at the American College of Cardiology Think Tank on the future of cardiac imaging in Washington, DC in 2015. Dr. Epstein was the elected Chair of the American Institute for Biological and Medical Engineering (AIMBE) Academic Council, a group comprised of all BME Department Chairs across the nation. For contributions to research and service, Dr. Epstein is an elected Fellow of three major societies: ISMRM (2013), the American Institute for Biological and Medical Engineering (2014), and the American Heart Association (2014).

Education

​B.S. in Physics, University of Rochester, 1988

​M.S. in Engineering Physics, University of Virginia, 1990

​Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering, University of Virginia, 1993

​Post-Doc in Radiology, University of Virginia, 1994

Our lab develops new MRI methods for imaging the heart. Some of our methods are used world-wide for clinical imaging or research studies.

Frederick H. Epstein

Research Interests

Biomedical and Molecular Imaging
Image Reconstruction and Processing
Imaging System Engineering
Cardiovascular Disease

Selected Publications

Myocardial Tissue Tracking with Two-dimensional Cine Displacement-encoded MR Imaging: Development and Initial Evaluation. Radiology 2004:230:862-871.
D. Kim, W.D. Gilson, C.M. Kramer, F.H. Epstein
Tracking Myocardial Motion from Cine-DENSE Images using Spatiotemporal Phase Unwrapping and Temporal Fitting. IEEE Trans Med Imag. 2007;26(1):15-30.
B.S. Spottiswoode, X. Zhong, E.M. Meintjes, B.M. Mayosi, C.M. Kramer, F.H. Epstein
Impact of Mechanical Activation, Scar, and Electrical Timing on Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy: Response and Clinical Outcomes. J Am Coll Cardiol 2014;63(16):1657-1666. K.C. Bilchick, S. Kuruvilla, Y. Hamirani, R. Ramachandran, S. Clarke, K.M. Parker, J.R. Moorman, R. Malhotra, J.M. Mangrum, A.E. Darby, J. DiMarco, J.W. Holmes, M. Salerno, C.M. Kramer, F.H. Epstein
Motion‐compensated compressed sensing for dynamic contrast‐enhanced MRI using regional spatiotemporal sparsity and region tracking: Block low‐rank sparsity with motion‐guidance (BLOSM). Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 72(4), 1028-1038. 2014. X. Chen, M. Salerno, Y. Yang, F.H. Epstein
Multi-parameter in vivo Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging Demonstrates Normal Perfusion Reserve Despite Severely Attenuated Beta-adrenergic Functional Response in Neuronal Nitric Oxide Synthase Knockout Mice. European Heart Journal. 2007; 28:2778-2784. M.H. Vandsburger, B.A. French, P.A. Helm, R.J. Roy, C.M. Kramer, A.A. Young, F.H. Epstein
Molecular MRI of Post-Infarct Myocardial Scar in Mice Using a Collagen-Targeting Contrast Agent. Radiology. 2008;247:788-796. P.A. Helm, P. Caravan, B.A. French, V. Jacques, L. Shen, R. Beyers, R.J. Roy, C.M. Kramer, F.H. Epstein

Courses Taught

BME 4783 Medical Imaging Modalities
BME 8783 Advanced MRI

Awards

Distinguished Investigator Award from the Academy for Radiology & Biomedical Imaging Research
Fellow and Established Investigator Award of the American Heart Association (AHA)
Fellow of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM)
Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE)

Featured Grants & Projects

NIH R01 HL147104 "Free-breaking and Simultaneous Multislice Cine Dense Myocardial Strain Imaging"
NIH R01 EB001763 "MRI in mouse models of heart disease"
Siemens Heathineers "Development of Free-breathing DENSE MRI"

In The News

  • Unlocking Secrets of the Heart: Simple Scan Could Identify Patients at Risk

    UVA biomedical engineering researchers have developed an MRI technique to analyze the fat surrounding a patient’s heart, potentially enabling earlier cardiac disease interventions.

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    For the last 15 years, Epstein and the researchers in his group have been the world leaders in developing a cardiac magnetic resonance imaging technology that can directly measure the contractile func

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