HIER · Heart Spark RIIHome of the Brown Virtual Lab

The cardiovascular life hidden inside every planning CT.

A multidisciplinary program transforming routinely acquired radiation treatment planning computed tomography into a comprehensive cardiovascular precision medicine platform — no extra scans, no extra radiation, no extra patient burden.

50+
Imaging biomarkers per CT
20+
Cardiac substructures dosed
6
Disease-specific programs
5-yr
Strategic research roadmap
Master protocol architecture

One institute, three connected research programs.

Our work spans a retrospective planning-CT phenotyping repository, a prospective longitudinal survivorship cohort, and a multimodal fusion program that combines ECG, echocardiography, and cardiovascular imaging. Choose the program below that matches what you need — full protocols, methods, endpoints, and governance live on each dedicated page.

Retrospective repository

Planning-CT phenotyping, image extraction, quality assurance, missing-data strategy, and statistical analysis live in the master retrospective protocol.

Open retrospective protocol

Prospective cohort

Longitudinal visits, biomarkers, biospecimens, wearables, retention, governance, and the multimodal expansion belong in the prospective protocol.

Open prospective protocol

Multimodal fusion essay

The detailed ECG, echocardiography, cardiac MRI, coronary CTA, nuclear perfusion, and planning-CT fusion rationale remains in the dedicated insight.

Read fusion rationale
Scientific Mission

Build one of the world's largest cardiovascular imaging programs — from data that already exists.

Every planning CT already visualizes the heart, coronaries, great vessels, valves, chambers, epicardial fat, thoracic aorta, pulmonary arteries, skeletal muscle, adipose distribution, vertebral bone and pulmonary parenchyma. We extract, quantify, and connect this latent physiology to lifetime cardiovascular outcomes.

Opportunistic Screening

Turn every treatment planning CT into a cardiovascular assessment — coronary calcium, aortic and valvular calcification, chamber size, epicardial fat, and body composition.

Dose–Structure Atlas

Map delivered radiation dose to every cardiac substructure — LV, RV, atria, LAD, RCA, LCx, valves, pericardium, conduction system, aorta — and link to lifetime cardiovascular events.

AI Cardiovascular Phenotyping

Deep-learning segmentation and biomarker extraction across thousands of studies, producing scalable, reproducible imaging phenotypes.

Radiomics Discovery

Tens of thousands of texture, shape and heterogeneity features translated into predictive signatures for toxicity, recurrence and survival.

Toxicity Prediction

Models integrating imaging, dosimetry, EHR, labs and cancer therapy for heart failure, arrhythmia, MI, stroke, and cardiovascular mortality.

Precision Radiation Planning

Baseline cardiovascular phenotype informs beam selection, dose constraints, heart avoidance, proton selection and adaptive planning.

Partnership

Three institutions. One shared platform.

A durable operational, scientific, and clinical alliance built to sustain a multi-decade cardiovascular oncology imaging program.

My Heart Opulence LLC

HIER Institute

Research operations, imaging analytics, AI engineering, registry development, translational science.

My Heart Spark Foundation, Inc.

Heart Spark RII

Scientific collaboration, education, trainee development, patient engagement, dissemination, philanthropy.

Clinical & Academic Home

Dartmouth Radiation Oncology

Treatment-planning CT, dosimetry, radiation delivery, clinical follow-up, multidisciplinary expertise.

Join the Program

The future of cardio-oncology
begins in the planning suite.

Investigators, trainees, philanthropic partners, and multicenter collaborators are invited to join a research platform designed for decades of high-impact discovery.