Dr Zahra Raisi-Estabragh

Profile

I am an academic cardiologist based at St Bartholomew’s Hospital and Queen Mary University of London. I have expertise in big data epidemiology, cardiovascular magnetic resonance, and cardio-oncology.

I was awarded the Royal Society of Medicine Cardiology President’s Gold Medal in 2021 and the Alfred Thomas Corrie Prize from the Barts School of Medicine and Dentistry in 2022. I am part of the British Cardiovascular Society Emerging Leaders Programme and the Academy of Medical Sciences SUSTAIN academic leadership programme.

I am Associate Editor for the Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance and a member of the international board for the European Heart Journal of Imaging Methods and Practice. I am a member of the European Society of Cardiovascular Imaging Research and Innovation Committee and the Association of Physicians Early Career Researcher Committee.

Research

My research is focused on big data epidemiology, advanced cardiovascular imaging, and cardio-oncology. I have a special interest in integrating large-scale imaging data into population science research. I have extensive experience with the UK Biobank, as well as other large research databases covering UK primary care data and routine health data from the US.

I lead the Barts Cardio-oncology Research Engagement (BCORE) group and the Data Science for Cardio-oncology Research group. I co-lead the Healthy Hearts Consortium, alongside Prof. Steffen Petersen. I am a member of the ORFAN consortium.

Current team:

• Gracia Adriamiadana – PhD student
• Dorina-Gabriela Condurache – Clinical Research Fellow
• Janek Salatzki – Clinical Research Fellow
• Jackie Cooper – Senior Statistician

Alumni:

• Liliana Szabo –Post doctoral researcher (2020-2024); destination: academic radiology training, University of Semmelweis
• Ahmed Salih - Post doctoral researcher (2021-2023); destination: senior researcher, university of Leicester
• Lizzie Remfry – Masters of Research (2022), destination: doctoral student, Queen Mary University of London
• Tamara Enthoven – Medical Student Academic Elective Placement (2024), destination: clinical foundation programme

Key Publications

Recent publications

Latest publications can be viewed on my Google Scholar page.

1. McCracken C, Condurache DG, Szabo L, Elghazaly H, Walter FM, Mead AJ, Chakraverty R, Harvey NC, Manisty CH, Petersen SE, Neubauer S, Raisi-Estabragh Z. Predictive Performance of Cardiovascular Risk Scores in Cancer Survivors from the UK Biobank. JACC CardioOncol. 2024. Accepted in Press.
2. Condurache D-G, D’Angelo S, Salih AM, Szabo LS, McCracken C, Mahmood A, Curtis EM, Altmann A, Petersen SE, Harvey NC, Raisi-Estabragh Z, Bone health, cardiovascular disease and imaging outcomes in UK biobank: a causal analysis,JBMR Plus, 2024; ziae058, doi: 10.1093/jbmrpl/ziae058; Epub ahead of print.
3. Raisi-Estabragh Z*, Szabo L*, McCracken C, Bülow R, Aquaro GD, Andre F, Le TT, Suchá D, Condurache DG, Salih A, Chadalavada S, Aung N, Lee AM, Harvey NC, Leiner T, Chin CWL, Friedrich MG, Barison A, Dörr M, Steffen E. Petersen. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance reference ranges from the Healthy Hearts Consortium JACC Cardiovasc Imaging. 2024; S1936-878X(24)00061-5. doi: 10.1016/j.jcmg.2024.01.009. Epub ahead of print.
4. Raisi-Estabragh Z, Szabo L, Schuermans A, Salih AM, Chin CWL, Vágó H, Altmann A, Ng FS, Garg P, Pavanello S, Marwick TH, Petersen SE. Noninvasive Techniques for Tracking Biological Aging of the Cardiovascular System: JACC Family Series. JACC Cardiovasc Imaging. 2024;17(5):533-551. doi: 10.1016/j.jcmg.2024.03.001.
5. McCracken C, Raisi-Estabragh Z, Szabo L, Robson J, Raman B, Topiwala A, Roca-Fernández A, Husain M, Petersen SE, Neubauer S, Nichols TE. NHS Health Check attendance is associated with reduced multiorgan disease risk: a matched cohort study in the UK Biobank. BMC Med. 2024;22(1):1. doi: 10.1186/s12916-023-03187-w.
6. Szabo L*, McCracken C*, Cooper J, Rider OJ, Vago H, Merkely B, Harvey NC, Neubauer S, Petersen SE, Raisi-Estabragh Z. The role of obesity-related cardiovascular remodelling in mediating incident cardiovascular outcomes. European Heart Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging. 2023;24:921-929.
7. Salih A, Ardissino M, Wagen AZ, Bard A, Szabo L, Ryten M, Petersen SE, Altmann A, Raisi-Estabragh Z. Genome-Wide Association Study of Pericardial Fat Area in 28 161 UK Biobank Participants. J Am Heart Assoc. 2023;12(21):e030661. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.123.030661. Epub ahead of print.
8. Ardissino M, Morley AP, Slob EAW, Schuermans A, Rayes B, Raisi-Estabragh Z, de Marvao A, Burgess S, Rogne T, Honigberg MC, Ng FS. Birth weight influences cardiac structure, function, and disease risk: evidence of a causal association. Eur Heart J. 2024 Feb 7;45(6):443-454. doi: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehad631. Epub ahead of print.
9. Raisi-Estabragh Z, Kobo O, Mieres JH, Bullock-Palmer RP, Van Spall HGC, Breathett K, Mamas MA. Racial Disparities in Obesity-Related Cardiovascular Mortality in the United States: Temporal Trends From 1999 to 2020. J Am Heart Assoc. 2023:e028409. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.122.028409. Epub ahead of print.
10. Remfry E, Ardissino M, McCracken C, Szabo L, Neubauer S, Harvey NC, Mamas MA, Robson J, Petersen SE, Raisi-Estabragh Z. Sex-based differences in risk factors for incident myocardial infarction and stroke in the UK Biobank. Eur Heart J Qual Care Clin Outcomes. 2024;10(2):132-142. doi: 10.1093/ehjqcco/qcad029. P
11. Salih AM, Pujadas ER, Campello VM, McCracken C, Harvey NC, Neubauer S, Lekadir K, Nichols TE, Petersen SE, Raisi-Estabragh Z. Image-Based Biological Heart Age Estimation Reveals Differential Aging Patterns Across Cardiac Chambers. J Magn Reson Imaging. 2023;58(6):1797-1812. doi: 10.1002/jmri.28675.
12. Raisi-Estabragh Z, Cooper J, McCracken C, Crosbie EJ, Walter FM, Manisty CH, Robson J, Mamas MA, Harvey NC, Neubauer S, Petersen SE. Incident cardiovascular events and imaging phenotypes in UK Biobank participants with past cancer. 2023;109(13):1007-1015. doi: 10.1136/heartjnl-2022-321888.
13. Ardissino M, McCracken C, Bard A, Antoniades C, Neubauer S, Harvey NC, Petersen SE*, Raisi-Estabragh Z*. Pericardial adiposity is independently linked to adverse cardiovascular phenotypes: a CMR study of 42,598 UK Biobank participants. European Heart Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging. 2022;23(11):1471-1481.
14. McCracken C*, Raisi-Estabragh Z*, Veldsman M, Raman B, Dennis A, Husain M, Nichols TE, Petersen SE, Neubauer S. Multi-organ imaging demonstrates the heart-brain-liver axis in UK Biobank participants. Nature Communications. 2022;13(1):7839.