Christopher Macgowan

Director of the Research MRI Core Facility

Christopher Macgowan received his graduate training from the Department of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto, where he received an M.Sc. and a PhD on the topic of blood flow measurement using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

He was recruited to The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in 2000 to develop a research program in cardiovascular imaging, and is now a Senior Scientist in the Translational Medicine program and the Department of Diagnostic Imaging at SickKids. He is also an Associate Professor in the Departments of Medical Biophysics and Medical Imaging at the University of Toronto.

Research

Macgowan’s research involves the development of new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods to improve the detection and evaluation of cardiovascular disease in children. In particular, he is interested in the fast measurement of blood flow and vascular function in congenital heart disease, and the translation of these methods into clinical practice.

Recent work in his lab has focused on accelerated imaging and advanced reconstruction methods, including motion correction, to study cardiovascular physiology in the human fetus and newborn child while avoiding the need for sedation.

Education

• 1989–1993: B.Sc., Physics (Honours), University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
• 1993–1995: M.Sc., Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
• 1995–2000: PhD, Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

1. Roy CW, Seed M, Kingdom JC, Macgowan CK. Motion compensated cine CMR of the fetal heart using radial undersampling and compressed sensing J. Cardiov. Magn. Reson. 19:29 (2017)
2. Sun L, Macgowan CK, Sled JG, Manlhiot C, Porayette P, Grosse-Wortmann L, Jaeggi E, McCrindle BW, Kingdom J, Hickey E, Miller S, Seed M. Reduced Fetal Cerebral Oxygen Consumption Is Associated With Smaller Brain Size in Fetuses With Congenital Heart Disease. Circulation 131, 1313-1323 (2015)
3. Seed M, van Amerom JFP, Yoo SJ, Al Nafisi B, Grosse-Wortmann L, Jaeggi E, Jansz MS, Macgowan CK. Feasibility of Quantification of the Distribution of Blood Flow in the Normal Human Fetal Circulation Using CMR: A Cross-Sectional Study.  J. Cardiov. Magn. Reson. 14 (2012)
4. Jansz MS, Seed M, van Amerom JFP, Wong D, Grosse-Wortmann L, Yoo SJ, Macgowan CK. Metric Optimized Gating for Fetal Cardiac MRI. Magn. Reson. Med. 64(5): 1304-1314 (2010)
5. Macgowan CK, Wood ML. Phase-Encode Reordering to Minimize Errors Caused by Motion. Magn. Reson. Med. 35, 391-398 (1996)

View a full list of Christopher Macgowan's publications

Publications

• Hemodynamics of Pediatric Congenital Heart Disease Using Accelerated and Motion-Compensated MRI. Canadian Institutes for Health Research. Project Grant.
• Accelerated Multi-Dimensional Flow Encoding by MRI. Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. Discovery Grant
• Dynamic 3D MRI of the fetus: a new method for detecting abnormal blood flow and oxygenation during pregnancy. Canadian Institutes for Health Research. Project Grant.
• Environmental factors in placental pathology: a new diagnostic method based on umbilical vessel wave mechanics. National Institutes of Health. U01