Cardiovascular Diseases among Patients with Cancer and Patients living with HIV

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Project Summary/Abstract: Tomas Neilan MD MPH is a clinically-active cardiologist in the Division of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Over the last 10 years, Dr. Neilan’s research has focused on applying advanced imaging to two complementary areas, the cardiovascular toxicities associated with cancer therapies and heart failure among persons with HIV. Dr. Neilan’s extensive mentoring experience, publication and funding record, together with his current and planned research support, demonstrate his commitment and passion for POR and provide an excellent foundation to accomplish the goals and objectives of the K24 Award. The specific aims addressing the purpose of the K24 Award are: 1) To enable Dr. Neilan to dedicate 25% of his time to mentor junior clinical investigators based on already NIH funded projects; 2) To mentor junior clinical investigators from the T-32 program and the pool of residents, fellows, and junior faculty in Cardiology and Radiology with the goal to develop them into clinical researchers who can successfully compete for peer reviewed grants; and 3) To enable Dr. Neilan to consolidate a POR that combines innovative translational, clinical, and outcomes research in cardiovascular imaging and that provides an ideal environment to develop future leaders in clinical research. Dr. Neilan’s current leadership roles align well with this proposal. He is the Co-Director of the Cardiac MR CT PET Program, a clinical research program in cardiovascular imaging supported by the Division of Cardiology and the Department of Radiology, the Associate Director of the MGH T32 training grant in cardiovascular imaging, and the Director of the Cardio-Oncology Program in the Division of Cardiology. In addition to his roles, Dr. Neilan also has an unreserved commitment from the leadership of both Cardiology and Radiology providing a foundation that is ideal to successfully mentor junior clinical investigators and fulfill the purpose of the Award. The specific research aims of this grant stem from a significant body of work accomplished over the past few years and are all based on on-going NIH funded projects, except Aim 4 which is new research specifically supported by this grant: 1) STOP-CA – Testing in a randomized multicenter clinical trial the effect of statins on the reduction in left ventricular ejection fraction after anthracycline-based chemotherapy, 2) REPRIEVE-MR – Testing in a randomized multicenter clinical trial whether statins reduce myocardial fibrosis, myocardial steatosis and preserve cardiac function among persons living with HIV, 3) STOP-CA Fibrosis – where we apply novel MRI- based imaging techniques to provide insight into the role of myocardial fibrosis in the development of anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity, and test the effect of statins on myocardial fibrosis after anthracyclines, and 4) Expanding our international registry to improve our limited understanding of the predictors, presentation, treatments and outcomes of patients presenting with myocarditis after immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI’s).