Suhny Abbara, M.D.

Biography

Suhny Abbara, M.D., is a Professor of Radiology at UT Southwestern Medical Center and Chief of its Cardiothoracic Imaging Division. He also serves as Chief of Cardiothoracic Imaging at Parkland Health & Hospital System. His clinical interests include cardiovascular imaging and lung cancer screening.

Originally from Germany, Dr. Abbara earned his medical degree at Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf. He completed his residency in diagnostic radiology at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C., and in surgery at the University of Hawaii Surgical Residency Program in Honolulu. He received advanced training in cardiac imaging through a fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Prior to joining the UT Southwestern faculty in 2013, Dr. Abbara was Director of Clinical Cardiac Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital. At Harvard Medical School, he was Director of Education for the Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (MR) and Computed Tomography (CT) Program and an Associate Professor of Radiology.

Research and clinical practice

Dr. Abbara focuses his research on cardiac CT and its uses in surgical procedures, identification of imaging biomarkers to predict post-procedure outcomes, and spectral detector CT. In the clinical setting, he specializes in thoracic imaging, cardiac MRI, and cardiac CTA, as well as coronary calcium scoring, which is an imaging test that helps determine whether an asymptomatic patient is at low, intermediate, or high risk for heart attack.

Dr. Abbara is an active member of numerous national and international professional organizations, including the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography, for which he serves on the executive committee and is the President-elect (President beginning in July 2018), and the American College of Radiology, for which he chairs the Appropriateness Criteria expert panels on Cardiac Imaging. Dr. Abbara is past President of the Certification Board of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography.

Educating, editing, and lecturing

Dr. Abbara has authored or co-authored more than 230 peer-reviewed publications, four textbooks, and several book chapters. He is Associate Editor of the Journal for Cardiovascular Computed Tomography and an editorial board member for the Journal of Thoracic Imaging and other journals. Dr. Abbara has been invited to present lectures at medical and educational institutions throughout North America, including Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Emory University in Atlanta, Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, the University of Ottawa in Canada, Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., Ignacio Chavez National Heart Institute in Mexico City, the University of Toronto in Canada, Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, and the University of Colorado in Denver.