ASE and its Foundation Award Three $25,000 Grants to Early Career Investigators in Cardiovascular Imaging

December 12, 2023 — The American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) and the ASE Foundation have awarded grant funding totaling $75,000 for three innovative cardiovascular ultrasound research projects led by early career investigators.

The Society’s EDGES (Early-Career Development Grant for Echo Scientists) research program is intended to fund projects that address a clinical gap in cardiovascular ultrasound imaging through research directed by an early career scientist or investigator.

Three recipients were each awarded a $25,000 grant.

• Dr. Xuan Ding, a cardiovascular disease fellow at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., will use the grant to fund research in the development of cardiovascular ultrasound and echocardiographic technology and its applications to clinical cardiovascular medicine.
• Dr. Chieh-Ju Chao, an academic cardiologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., will utilize the funding for a collaborative project between Mayo Clinic and Stanford University Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence that seeks to develop an artificial intelligence-enabled echocardiography copilot reporting system.
• Dr. Son “Sonny” Duong, an assistant professor of pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Cardiology at the Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Heart Center and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, secured the funding for research focused on the utilization of large data sets and machine-learning technologies to analyze cardiac diagnostics and patient risk prediction.

ASE Past President and Chair of the Society’s Research Committee Dr. Jonathan Lindner explained why this funding is important for the field.

“ASE has always advocated that echocardiography must constantly evolve to meet clinical needs, and therefore prioritizes its support of cutting-edge research. The EDGES grants are designed to support scientists in cardiovascular imaging at one of the most critical times in their professional development,” said Dr. Lindner. “The goal of the program is to assist early career scientists who need financial support to continue their trajectory in echocardiography research, and to generate vital data that can be used for more comprehensive funding mechanisms.”

The EDGES research program was developed to create an avenue for the continued evolution of echocardiography through technical advancement and new applications to meet the needs of increasingly complex patient populations in four ways:

1. Fund early research that will produce preliminary data necessary for a larger grant application.
2. Demonstrate the recipient’s research potential to their division and institution, whose support will be critical for their development.
3. Provide critical and positive feedback for the early career imager who may be unsure if they can successfully attain funding.
4. Build a foundation for launching a research career separate from their mentors.

For more information: ASEFoundation.org/Research