The Board of Trustees of the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance is pleased to announce the 2018 Gold Medal Award recipient is Andrew E Arai, MD, FAHA, Chief, Advanced Cardiovascular Imaging Group at National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health. This award is presented annually by the SCMR for outstanding achievement in the field of CMR as well as exemplary service to the Society.
Dr. Arai has been deeply involved in SCMR for more than a decade. He began Board service in 2006, served as Program Chairman for the 13th Annual Meeting in 2010, and ultimately was elected President in 2012, where he lead the Society through a challenging time period, while leaving it substantially for the better. Dr. Arai has also been instrumental in furthering CMR recognition by serving on leadership positions within the American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, and the Cardiac MRI Study Group of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.
Dr. Arai has also been a distinguished leader developing new MRI techniques for cardiac imaging including determination of extracellular volume fraction and quantitative myocardial perfusion, and bringing recognition of the clinical applications of CMR across the spectrum of disease processes including left ventricular remodeling, myocardial ischemia and infarction, and the use of CMR in evaluating patients with chest pain presenting to the emergency department.
Dr. Arai and his team have been robust leaders and contributors to multiple, large, multicenter trials that have been critical in advancing the broad, clinical use of CMR techniques, and elevating CMR’s diagnostic and prognostic role. Finally, Dr. Arai has a strong track record of mentoring a large number of CMR clinician researchers, many of whom have gone on to establish highly productive and widely recognized careers and CMR centers of their own.
Clearly, Dr. Andrew Arai is one of the most respected and talented individuals in our discipline. Dr. Arai is held with the highest regard both scientifically and personally. – David Bluemke, MD, PhD, MsB
