About us

The Bergen Hypertension and Cardiac Dynamics Group integrates researchers at Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen and at Department of Heart Disease, Haukeland University Hospital who use echocardiography in clinical and experimental research settings. Professor Eva Gerdts is the group leader. Other principal investigators are associate professor Dana Cramariuc, postdoctoral researcher Helga Midtbø and professor emeritus Knut Matre.

Methods and research fields

Our main method is echocardiography. Other key clinical methods include applanation tonometry, ambulatory blood pressure recording, and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging as well as using cardiac phantoms to optimize the imaging methods. Our main fields of interest are hypertensive heart disease, aortic valve stenosis, obesity, ischemic heart disease and sex differences in cardiac structure and function. In particular, we focus on use of imaging in early detection of subclinical cardiovascular disease.

Facilities

The group has established a clinical echocardiography research laboratory located on the 1^st floor, Sentralblokken, Haukeland University Hospital as well as on the 9^th floor in the Laboratory buidling, that serves as core laboratory in international multicenter projects. Our experimental ultrasound laboratory for testing the use and feasibility of new echocardiographic methods like cardiac deformation imaging including 3D methods is located on the 9^th floor in the Laboratory Building.

Collaborators: 

We collaborate with several national and international research groups

Professor Maja Lisa Løchen, Department of Community Medicine, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway Topic: Heart disease in women 

Professor Sverre E. Kjeldsen, Department of Cardiology, Oslo University Hospital– Ullevål, Oslo, Norway. Topic: Hypertension

Professor Geir Christensen, Institute for Experimental Medical Research, University of Oslo, Norway. Topic: NORHEART – Norwegian PhD School for Heart Research

Professor Ulrike Waje-Andreassen, Department of Neurology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway. Topic: Subclinical heart disease in young ischemic stroke patients

Professor Giovanni de Simone, Hypertension Research Center, Federico II University Hospital, Napoli, Italia simogi@unina.it Topic: Hypertensive heart disease

Professor Vera Regitz-Zagrosek, Institute for Gender Medicine, Charité Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany. Topic: Heart disease in women 

Professor Richard B. Devereux, Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell University,  New York, USA rbdevere@med.cornell.edu Topic: Hypertensive heart disease

Professor Jukka Putaala, Department of Neurology, Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland jukka.putaala@hus.fi Topic: SECRETO study. Echocardiography core laboratory

Nasjonalt senter for kvinnehelseforskning, Oslo Universitetssykehus-Rikshospitalet