Rate My Professor Peggy Chen

Yi Ching (Peggy) Chen, PhD, is a Research Fellow in the Hagemeyer Laboratory within the Department of Diabetes, Central Clinical School, Monash University. She maintains a dual appointment at Monash Biomedical Imaging and serves as Research Officer in the Heart Muscle Group at the Heart Research Institute Australia. Chen obtained her PhD in Physiology from Monash University in 2017, with her thesis entitled "Application of Synchrotron Microangiography to Functional Imaging of Coronary Vessels In Vivo." Earlier in her career, she held the position of Research Officer in the Cardiac Hypertrophy Laboratory at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, where she spearheaded advanced imaging studies on heart failure models.

Chen's academic interests center on preclinical cardiac imaging for heart failure and atrial fibrillation, cardiovascular imaging, preclinical disease modelling, nanomedicine, and cardiovascular biology. She applies PET/CT, MRI, and molecular imaging approaches to study cardiac metabolism, fibrosis, and functional remodeling. As Chief Investigator B, she has attracted over $1.5 million in funding from sources such as the International Synchrotron Access Program Grants, Heart Foundation Vanguard Grant, and NHMRC Idea Grants. Through collaborations with leading experts in Australia and Japan, Chen advances the translation of imaging technologies for cardiovascular therapeutics. Her key publications encompass "Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging for sequential assessment of cardiac fibrosis in mice: technical advancements and reverse translation" (2024, American Journal of Physiology - Heart and Circulatory Physiology), "Prevention of Pathological Atrial Remodeling and Atrial Fibrillation: JACC State-of-the-Art Review" (2021, Journal of the American College of Cardiology), "Collagen-targeted tracers for molecular imaging of atrial fibrosis and sensitive detection of atrial fibrillation" (2025, npj Cardiovascular Health), and "β-blockade prevents coronary macro- and microvascular dysfunction induced by a high salt diet and insulin resistance in the Goto–Kakizaki rat" (2021, Clinical Science). These contributions highlight her influence in the field of cardiovascular research.