Rate My Professor Jason Tarkin

Dr Jason Tarkin is a Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Career Development Fellow at the University of Cambridge's Cambridge Cardiovascular and Victor Phillip Dahdaleh Heart & Lung Research Institute, and an Honorary Consultant Cardiologist with an imaging subspecialty at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust. He earned a BSc in Biology summa cum laude with honors from the University of New Hampshire in 2003, an MBBS with Distinction from St George’s, University of London in 2008, and a PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2017, where he studied at Gonville and Caius College. His cardiology training occurred at Barts Heart Centre, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, and Hammersmith Hospital, and he previously served as an NIHR Clinical Lecturer at the National Heart & Lung Institute. Tarkin is also a Junior Research Fellow at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, and holds qualifications including MRCP.

Tarkin’s research applies novel multi-modality imaging, particularly somatostatin receptor PET/MRI, coupled with molecular and cellular profiling, to identify inflammatory disease activity and phenotypes in atherosclerosis, large vessel vasculitis, and post-infarct cardiac remodelling. His programme explores clinical translational applications for disease mechanisms, drug discovery, and novel therapies in high-risk cardiovascular patients. Key publications include 'Detection of atherosclerotic inflammation by 68Ga-DOTATATE PET compared to 18F-FDG PET imaging' (J Am Coll Cardiol, 2017), '68Ga-DOTATATE PET identifies residual myocardial inflammation and bone marrow activation after myocardial infarction' (J Am Coll Cardiol, 2019), 'Somatostatin Receptor PET/MR Imaging of Inflammation in Patients With Large Vessel Vasculitis and Atherosclerosis' (J Am Coll Cardiol, 2023), and 'Novel Approach for Assessing Postinfarct Myocardial Injury and Inflammation Using Hybrid Somatostatin Receptor Positron Emission Tomography/Magnetic Resonance Imaging' (Circ Cardiovasc Imaging, 2023). For his doctoral work on molecular imaging of inflammation and atherosclerotic plaque biology, he received the American Heart Association Melvin Judkin’s Young Investigator Award in 2016 and the American College of Cardiology William W. Parmley Young Author Achievement Award in 2018. He serves on the executive committees of the British Society of Cardiovascular Imaging and British Atherosclerosis Society, the British Heart Foundation Clinical Research Collaborative Steering Committee, the UK CARDIO-IMID Network Steering Committee, and the Editorial Board of Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging.