Peter Caravan, PhD
Co-Director / Associate Professor of Radiology
Institute for Innovation in Imaging
Massachusetts General Hospital / Harvard Medical School
Dr. Peter Caravan received his BSc (Honors) at Acadia University, a PhD in chemistry from University of British Columbia, followed by an NSERC postdoctoral fellowship at Université de Lausanne. He then spent 9 years at Epix Pharmaceuticals developing tissue-specific (e.g. gadofosveset) and responsive MRI contrast agents. He was ultimately responsible for all chemistry and contrast agent research in the company. He is a co-inventor of EP-2104R, a fibrin-specific contrast agent for thrombus detection, which was the first molecular MR imaging agent to enter human clinical trials. He joined the Department of Radiology at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in 2007. Dr. Caravan has contributed 8 book chapters in the chemistry, properties, and uses of imaging agents over the last 10 years. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers in the chemistry of imaging probes, the biophysics of the interactions of these probes with proteins, and their applications in animal models and in patients. Dr. Caravan is a co-inventor on 20 granted or pending patents related to new imaging agents and methods for their uses. His current research focuses in the areas of fibrosis, thrombosis, as well as the design and development of new imaging probes (MRI, PET, NIR) and their applications in detecting pathological changes and monitoring responses to therapy.