Rate My Professor Sonia Nielles-Vallespin

Sonia Nielles-Vallespin is Associate Professor in Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Physics at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London. She also serves as Head of CMR Physics at Royal Brompton Hospital. In November 2025, she was promoted to Associate Professor in recognition of her research excellence. Previously affiliated with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health, she contributed to advancements in cardiac imaging techniques. She holds a PhD, MSc, and BSc.

Her research specializes in cardiovascular magnetic resonance physics, focusing on diffusion tensor cardiovascular magnetic resonance (DT-CMR) to assess myocardial microstructural dynamics in vivo. She leads a team developing advanced CMR methods, including robust simultaneous multi-slice parallel imaging technology to accelerate clinical CMR threefold, funded by the British Heart Foundation. She is involved in projects such as the development of a first-of-its-kind high-field 0.55T heart scanner, recognized at the Royal Brompton Hospital. Key publications include 'Assessment of Myocardial Microstructural Dynamics by In Vivo Diffusion Tensor Cardiac Magnetic Resonance' (Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 2017), cited over 300 times; 'An in-vivo comparison of stimulated-echo and motion-compensated spin-echo diffusion tensor cardiovascular magnetic resonance in isotropic resolution' (Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance, 2018); 'Diffusion Tensor Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance of the Ventricles in Patients With Cardiac Amyloidosis' (JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging, 2019); and 'The effects of field strength on stimulated echo and motion-compensated diffusion tensor cardiovascular magnetic resonance' (Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance, 2024). Her work has garnered over 3,000 citations on Google Scholar. She co-leads the Cardiac Diffusion Special Interest Group of the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance and contributes to international conferences and workshops.