Schulich Heart Program

Education:

• Hon. BA, 1980, physiology, University of Oxford, U.K.
• MBBS, 1983, St. Thomas’s Hospital, U.K.
• FRCP, 1983, Royal College of Physicians, U.K.
• FRCR, 1986, Royal College of Radiologists, U.K.
  

Appointments and Affiliations:

• Senior scientist, Physical Sciences, Schulich Heart Research Program, Sunnybrook Research Institute
• Staff physician, medical imaging, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
• Chair and professor, department of medical imaging, University of Toronto
• Associate professor, Institute of Medical Science, School of Graduate Studies, U of T
• Associate professor, department of medical biophysics, U of T

Research Foci:

• Vascular imaging
• Vascular biology
• Atheroma
• Perfusion
• Thrombosis
• Disease process

Research Summary:

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has rapidly established itself as a major imaging technique for the visualization of vascular diseases. In particular, magnetic resonance direct thrombus imaging (MRDTI) provides a closer, more in-depth look into occluded arteries, providing information never seen before, and has the potential to change the standard of imaging everywhere. This new MRI technique aims at early diagnosis and intervention to prevent strokes and heart attacks by detecting vulnerable plaques in arteries of patients who are asymptomatic.

Dr. Moody and his team are interested in developing and incorporating such imaging techniques in a comprehensive effort to identify and stabilize vulnerable plaques in one integrated procedure. Applications of MRDTI in the coronary and renal arteries, and aorta are also underway.

The following areas are also under investigation using MRDTI:

• ischemia
• treatment of occlusive vascular disease
• atherosclerotic plaque in the coronary and neurovascular circulations.

Selected Publications:

See current publications list at PubMed.

1. Burton KR, Perlis N, Aviv RI, Moody AR, Kapral MK, Krahn MD, Laupacis A. Systematic review, critical appraisal, and analysis of the quality of economic evaluations in stroke imaging. Stroke. 2014 Mar;45(3):807–14.
2. Moody A. Perspective: The big picture. Nature. 2013;502,S95.
3. Singh N, Moody AR, Rochon-Terry G, Kiss A, Zavodni A. Identifying a high risk cardiovascular phenotype by carotid MRI-depicted intraplaque hemorrhage. Int J Cardiovasc Imaging. 2013 Oct;29(7):1477–83.
4. Goeree R, Blackhouse G, Bowen JM, O'Reilly D, Sutherland S, Hopkins R, Chow B, Freeman M, Provost Y, Dennie C, Cohen E, Marcuzzi D, Iwanochko R, Moody A, Paul N, Parker JD. Cost-effectiveness of 64-slice CT angiography compared to conventional coronary angiography based on a coverage with evidence development study in Ontario. Expert Rev Pharmacoecon Outcomes Research. 2013 Oct;13(5):675–90.
5. Tardif JC, Spence JD, Heinonen TM, Moody A, Pressacco J, Frayne R, L'allier P, Chow BJ, Friedrich M, Black SE, Fenster A, Rutt B, Beanlands R. Atherosclerosis imaging and the Canadian atherosclerosis imaging network. Can J Cardiol. 2013 Mar;29(3):297–303.
6. Moody A. Stroke: cause and effect—seek and ye shall find. JACC. Cardiovascular Imaging. 2012 Apr;5(4):406–08.
7. Khademi A, Venetsanopoulos A, Moody AR. Robust white matter lesion segmentation in FLAIR MRI. IEEE Transactions in Biomedical Engineering. 2011;59(3):860–71.
8. Bluth EI, Cheung HM, Moody AR, Singh N, Bitar R, Zhan J. Utility of high-spatial-resolution gray-scale U.S. in characterizing nonstenotic plaque. Radiology. 2012 Mar;262(3):1045–6.
9. Cheung HM, Moody AR, Singh N, Bitar R, Zhan J, Leung G. Late stage complicated atheroma in low-grade stenotic carotid disease: MR imaging depiction—prevalence and risk factors. Radiology. 2011;260(3):841–7.
10. Chow BJ, Freeman MR, Bowen JM, Levin L, Hopkins RB, Provost Y, Tarride JE , Dennie C , Cohen EA , Marcuzzi D , Iwanochko R , Moody AR, Paul N, Parker JD, O'Reilly DJ, Xie F, Goeree R. Ontario multidetector computed tomographic coronary angiography study: field evaluation of diagnostic accuracy. Arch Intern Med. 2011 Jun; 171(11):1021–9.

Related News and Stories:

• Vascular Vulnerability: Detecting who’s at risk for heart attack or stroke before it’s too late (SRI Magazine, 2015)
• Allies in academia: SRI scientists helm departments at Canada's largest university (SRI Magazine, 2012)
• Dr. Alan Moody appointed chair, medical imaging (Feb. 7, 2012)
• With whom would you most like to have dinner and why? (SRI Magazine, 2011)
• Breast cancer research at Sunnybrook spurred by federal investment: CFI gives green light to integrated data bank (June 26, 2009)
• Network Aims to Get at the "Hearts and Minds" of Canadians (May 14, 2009)
• Dr. Alan Moody on Global News' family health segment (video): Discussing how an MRI can play a large role in preventing heart disease and stroke (Nov. 27, 2008)
• Dr. Alan Moody on CTV's Canada AM health and medical series (video): Discussing an MRI technique that may prove to be a useful screening tool to prevent stroke and heart attack (Nov.18, 2008)
• New 3-D MRIPH technique helps detect high-risk diseased arteries: SRI researchers show technique that detects stroke and heart attack (Sept.16, 2008)
  

Related Links:

• Vascular biology imaging research group
• U of T profile, department of medical biophysics
• Department of medical imaging
• Institute of Medical Science