Timothy F. Christian, MD

Timothy F. Christian, MD

Education:

Medical School
Albany Medical College, Albany, NY

Training:

Residency

Albany Medical Center, Albany, NY

Fellowship

Cardiology: Maine Medical Center, Portland, ME
Nuclear Cardiology: Mayo Medical Center, Rochester, MN
Cardiac MRI: National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD

Specialty:

Cardiac Imaging and Stress Testing
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Computed Tomography
Nuclear Cardiology
Positron Emission Tomography

Certifications:

Internal Medicine
Cardiovascular Diseases

Academic Appointments:

Professor of Medicine and Radiology, University of Vermont

Biography:

Dr. Christian is Director of Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Director of the Coronary Care Unit at the University of Vermont, Department of Medicine. He is an expert in cardiac imaging with multiple imaging modalities. His research interests include extensive work on myocardial blood flow in laboratory animals and patients with coronary disease. He has published extensively on cardiac imaging in conjunction with stress testing and acute ischemic syndromes. Dr. Christian is a frequent national and international speaker, is on the editorial board of several medical journals, and is a key member of several professional societies. Dr. Christian is a native of Connecticut. He is a tenured professor and Director of the Imaging Center within the Cardiovascular Research Institute.

Major Research Interests:

Dr. Christian has focused on translation research in cardiac imaging, particularly the coronary circulation and microcirculation. A major goal is the measurement of absolute myocardial blood flow in disease states with the use of high resolution imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging at higher field strengths and the application of these to the clinical setting.

Major Current Grants

High Field Magnetic Resonance Quantitative Myocardial Perfusion Imaging AHA0455650Z.

Publications:

Representative Publications from a total of 84

Christian TF, Schwartz RS, Gibbons, RJ. Determinants of infarct size in repersusion therapy for acute myocardial infarction. Circulation 1992; 96:81-90.

Das AK, Oconnor MK, Gibbons RJ, Ritman EL, Chrsitian TF. A systematic analysis of factors which may impact upon tomographic perfusion imaging measurements: implications for the use of Tc-99m sestamibi in acute myocardial infarction. Int J Card Imaging 2000; 16:293-303.

*Chareonthaitawee P, O’Connor MK, Gibbons RJ, Ritman EL, Christian TF. The effect of collateral flow and myocardial viability on the distribution of Tc-99m sestamibi in a closed chest model of coronary occlusion and reperfusion. Eur J Nucl Med 2000; 27:508-517.

*Kwok JMMF, Christian TF, Miller TD, Hodge DO, Gibbons RJ. Identification of severe coronary artery disease in patients with a single abnormal coronary territory on exercise Thallium-201 Imaging: The Importance of Clinical and Exercise Variables. J Am Coll Cardiol 2000; 35: 335-44.

Christian TF, Rettmann D, Altetras AH, Liao S, Taylor JL, Balaban RS, Arai AE. Absolute myocardial perfusion in canines measured by using dual-bolus first-pass MR imaging. Radiology 2004; 232:677-684.

Araoz PA, Glockner JF, McGee KP, Potter DD Jr, Valeti VU, Stanley DW, Christian TF. 3 Tesla MR imaging provides improved contrast in first-pass myocardial perfusion imaging over a range of gadolinium doses. J Cardiovasc Magn Reson 2005; 7:559-564.

Gentchos GE, Tischler MD, Christian TF. Imaging and quantifying valvular heart disease using magnetic resonance techniques. Curr Treat Options Cardiovasc Med 2006; 8:453-460.

Christian TF. Positively magnetic north. J Am Coll Cardiol 2006; 47:1646-1648.

Ling LH, Chistian TF, Mulvagh SL, Klarich KW, Hauser MF, Nishimura RA, Pellikka PA. Determining myocardial viability in chronic ischemic left ventricular dysfunction: A prospective comparison of rest-redistribution thallium 201 single-photon emission computed tomography nitroglycerin-dobutamine echocardiography, and intracoronary myocardial contrast echocardiography. Am Heart J 2006; 151:882-889.

Valeti VU, Chun W, Potter DD, Araoz PA, McGee KP, Glockner JF, Christian TF. Myocardial tagging and strain analysis at 3 Tesla: Comparison with 1.5 Tesla imaging. J Magn Reson Imaging 2006; 23:477-480.