2026 Contrast Echo Summit Speaker Profiles

Dr Evan Unger

Evan C. Unger, MD, FACR

Evan Unger M.D. is a renowned expert on ultrasound contrast media. He founded MVT to advance the field of ultrasound contrast agents and theranostics. Dr. Unger has also founded three other biotech companies and currently serves as the Executive Chair of NuvOx Therapeutics. His first company, ImaRx Pharmaceutical, developed 3 FDA-approved drugs, including Perflutren, the world’s #1 selling ultrasound contrast agent. ImaRx Pharmaceutical was acquired by DuPont, yielding a > 20x ROI. Dr. Unger’s second company, ImaRx Therapeutics, went public and performed clinical trials using ultrasound and microbubbles to treat ischemic stroke. Dr. Unger co-founded NuvOx, a clinical-stage biotech company that is in Phase II trials for stroke and brain cancer. He is a co-inventor on the issued U.S. patent covering MVT-100 and also an inventor on over 120 other issued US patents. He is a board-certified radiologist and has an appointment as a Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Arizona.

Dr Jordan Strom

Dr. Jordan Strom is Director of the Echocardiography Laboratory and Director of Echocardiographic Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Section Head for Cardiovascular Imaging Research at the Richard A. and Susan F. Smith Center for Outcomes Research in Cardiology.

His research which has been funded by the NIH and American Heart Association involves evaluation of the relationship of cardiac structure and function to health outcomes and the optimal use and timing of cardiac imaging in practice. He has published more than 90 papers in peer-reviewed journals and is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography. He additionally served as the inaugural American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) leadership academy member elected to the Board of Directors of the ASE and the American College of Cardiology Imaging Council Leadership Committee.

He is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Contrast Ultrasound Society, and is the current American College of Cardiology representative to the Board of Directors of the Joint Review Committee on Education in Diagnostic Medical Sonography, which accredits sonography training programs in the United States as well as ACC Commissioner to the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP), the largest programmatic accreditor of the health sciences professions, accrediting over 2,100 education programs in 32 health sciences occupations.

Dr. Jordan Strom is Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Director of the Echocardiography Laboratory, Director of Echocardiographic Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, and Section Head for Cardiovascular Imaging Research at the Richard A. and Susan F. Smith Center for Outcomes Research in Cardiology. He received his B.S. in Biology from Yale University and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School, before subsequently training in Internal Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital and in Cardiovascular Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center where he was Chief Fellow for the 2017-2018 year. He received additional post-graduate training in Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, receiving an M.Sc. in Epidemiology in May 2018.

Dr. Strom was the inaugural fellow and is currently a faculty investigator at the Richard A. and Susan F. Smith Center for Outcomes Research in Cardiology. His research which has been funded by the NIH and American Heart Association focuses on three main areas: 1) the relationship of cardiac structure and function to health outcomes, 2) the optimal use and timing of cardiac imaging in practice, and 3) the clinical role of emerging technologies in cardiac imaging. He has published more than 135 papers in peer-reviewed journals, is an Associate Editor of Echo Research and Practice, the official journal of the British Society of Echocardiography, a Guest Editor and member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography, and a Guest Editor of the Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance. He additionally was the inaugural American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) leadership academy member elected to the Board of Directors of the ASE and previously served on the American College of Cardiology Imaging Council Leadership Committee. He currently serves as Secretary of the Board of Directors of the International Contrast Ultrasound Society, and is representative to the Board of Directors of the Joint Review Committee on Education in Diagnostic Medical Sonography, which accredits sonography training programs in the United States. Additionally, he was the American College of Cardiology Commissioner to CAAHEP, the largest accreditor of allied health professions in the United States.
He serves as the ASE 2026 Abstract Chair and the incoming 2027 ASE Scientific Sessions Chair. Additionally, he has served on the writing committee for several ASE guidelines including Standardization of Adult Echocardiography Reporting and the forthcoming ASE Chamber Quantification Guidelines. In 2025, he was named the ASE Kalmanson Lecturer which honors worthy investigators promoting research and education in cardiovascular Doppler ultrasound.

Jessica Stout

Jess earned a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Science and Chemistry from Quinnipiac University. She worked as a sonographer, lead sonographer and director of an echo lab and is now the Technical Director of Non-Invasive Cardiology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Passionate about education, Jess was an adjunct professor at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences for many years and was a founding board member of the New England Society of Echocardiography. As a dedicated advocate for the use of ultrasound enhancing agents, she speaks nationally on the topic and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the International Contrast Ultrasound Society.

Dr Jarrett Linder

Jarrett Linder, MD MS FASE
Jarrett is an assistant professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University and practicing pediatric cardiologist and Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago. He is an expert in the use of ultrasound enhancing agents in pediatric echocardiography with additional expertise in 3D echocardiography and procedural imaging.

Dr Amr Hammouda

Amr is currently an advanced fellow in pediatric cardiac imaging at Northwestern University and Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago. His fellowship has a unique emphasis on incorporating the use of ultrasound enhancing agents in caring for pediatric patients and patients with congenital heart disease.

Dr Jonathan Lindner

Dr. Lindner is currently the Frances Myers Ball Endowed Professor of Medicine and serves as the Vice-chief for Research for the Cardiovascular Division at the University of Virginia. He is a physician-scientist and a highly-collaborative member of the Robert M. Berne Cardiovascular Research Center. Dr. Lindner has expertise in the fields of cardiovascular imaging and microvascular physiology; and is currently the principal investigator on multiple R01 grants from the National Institutes of Health and a grant from NASA. His research laboratory has pioneered the use of contrast ultrasound for non-invasive molecular imaging of disease and the assessment of microvascular function/dysfunction; and the use of ultrasound cavitation for site-directed therapy.

Dr. Lindner has served as the President for the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE); Chair of the Research Committee for the ASE; and Chair for the Exam Writing Committee and on the Board of Directors for the National Board of Echocardiography. He has served as the chair for NIH study sections on cardiovascular imaging. Past honors include the Feigenbaum Award and the Richard Popp Teaching Award from the ASE; and the Oregon Mentor Award. On a personal level, he has a great sense of humor (he thinks) and loves to cook, especially side-by-side with his daughter when she is home.

Bethany Gholson

Bethany brings 17 years of robust adult echocardiography experience within trauma 1 hospital environments and is presently a research sonographer for Dr. Jonathan Lindner. Her journey began with a Bachelor of Science degree in Radiography serving as a foundation in her career. Current research focus areas include myocardial perfusion, advanced imaging for reversible mechanisms for aortic stenosis, and a first in-human clinical trial to improve blood flow and wound healing in patients with chronic limb ischemia (CLI). She is the 2025 Brian Hauluska Sonographer Research Award winner in her work in Aortic Stenosis Progression in Echocardiography After Acute Coronary Syndrome.

Bethany holds a special interest in Equine Echocardiography and Veterinary Medicine.

Kristen Billick

Kristen Billick has been a cardiac sonographer for over 20 years. She is currently the Echo Lab Manager for Scripps Clinic and La Jolla Hospitals in La Jolla, California. She is very involved in the ASE and CCI, and her passion is focusing on quality assurance and improvement in the echo lab. Over the years Kristen has worked in various settings, to include inpatient academic, outpatient clinic, structural heart, adult and pediatric imaging, research, consulting, artificial intelligence labeling, clinical specialist for a UEA company, and veterinary research imaging. She has been a guest lecturer and has co-authored articles. Kristen currently serves as a Member at Large on the ASE Board of Directors. She is also an item writer with CCI for the Advanced Cardiac Sonographer (ACS) exam, is on the CCI Advisory Board, and she co-manages the San Diego Society of Echo

James Hodovan

James Hodovan PhD, RDCS
Jim is a retired Navy Cardiovascular Technologist who began his cardiac career in 1991 and has been specializing in echocardiography since 1993. He is currently working at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in Portland, Oregon since 2009 in both clinical and research capacities. 

Jim graduated Navy CV School  in 1993 and holds
BS and MS degrees from American Military University in Sports Medicine/Human
Performance PhD in Health and Human Performance from Concordia University Chicago and completed dissertation on a novel echo measurement in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM).

Dr Kevin Wei

Dr. Kevin Wei is a general cardiologist at Oregon Health & Science University.  He has had a longstanding interest in contrast echocardiography, and helped to develop perfusion imaging using ultrasound enhancing agents.  He played a role in pioneering a method to evaluate myocardial blood flow with contrast echo, and used this technique to study the coronary microvasculature and patients with ischemic heart disease.

Howard Leong-Poi

Howard Leong-Poi is a cardiologist and clinician-scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto. He is a Professor of Medicine and the Departmental Division Director, Division of Cardiology at the University of Toronto and Dexter Hung-Cho Man Chair in Cardiology. His research career has focused on developing effective, safe, non-invasive techniques to deliver genes using ultrasound-targeted microbubble destruction (UTMD) and elucidating underlying novel mechanisms of action. Clinically, his expertise lies in contrast echocardiography and the assessment of valvular heart disease. He was awarded the 2017 Feigenbaum Lecturer from the American Society of Echocardiography and received the Annual Achievement Award from the Canadian Society of Echocardiography (CSE) in 2025.

Benoy Shah

Dr Benoy Shah is a consultant cardiologist based at the Wessex Cardiac Centre in Southampton, UK. His main clinical interests are echocardiography and heart valve disease. His three year research fellowship was undertaken in London under the supervision of Professor Roxy Senior. He is an examiner for the British Society of Echocardiography’s Stress Echocardiography Accreditation scheme. He is a Past President of the British Heart Valve Society and an elected Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology, of the British Society of Echocardiography and of the Royal College of Physicians of London.

Dr David Platts

Associate Professor David Platts

B Med Sci, MBBS, MD, PhD, FRACP, FCSANZ, FESC, FASE

Assoc. Professor David Platts is a Senior Staff Specialist Cardiologist at The Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane, where he works in the Echocardiography Department, as well as working with the Queensland Cardiovascular Group. He is also an Associate Professor within the School of Medicine, at the University of Queensland. David completed a two year echocardiography fellowship at King’s College Hospital in London, England. He obtained a Doctor of Medicine from King’s College, University of London, following research in contrast specific echocardiographic imaging in coronary artery disease. Dr Platts subsequently completed a Doctor of Philosophy through the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Queensland, with the thesis titled “Application of perflutren microsphere contrast echocardiography – feasibility and interaction with mechanical cardiac support”. Dr Platts has an active clinical and research interest in contrast enhanced echocardiography and imaging of percutaneous short-term and durable long-term mechanical cardiac support devices.

Prof. Kazuaki (Kaz) Negishi

Prof Kaz Negishi, MD, MSc, PhD is an academic cardiologist and Chair of Cardiovascular Research at the University of New South Wales, South Western Sydney; Cardiologist at Liverpool Hospital, Faculty at Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research. He was immediate past Head of Medicine at Nepean Clinical School of University of Sydney. He worked in Japan, USA and now based at Sydney. He is an internationally recognised expert in cardiac imaging, especially in myocardial strain and its clinical application in Cardio-Oncology, as well as a global leader in sonothrombolysis/ sonoperfusion.