Part 1

Vision, mission, and goals

Vision

To innovate cardiovascular ultrasound for improved patient care

Values

Respectful, open and innovative

• Respectful towards patients, colleagues, collaborators, and competitors
• Open towards new ideas, people, and cultures
• Promote innovative and creative thinking

Mission

Our mission is to advance medical ultrasound imaging for improved care of patients, with emphasis on cardiovascular disease. We aim to create practical solutions with a global clinical impact through multidisciplinary research, education, and innovation.

Goals

The overall goal is good health and well-being for the patient.

Specific goals are to:

• Advance key areas of ultrasound imaging technology, with emphasis on image formation, established and novel imaging modalities, and image analysis
• Advance physiological and pathophysiological knowledge using ultrasound imaging
• Improve diagnostics and patient care based on ultrasound technology
• Educate high-quality technical and clinical MScs, MDs, PhDs, and researchers for society and industry
• Maintain the position as a centre of competence and innovation for ultrasound imaging technology and clinical applications
• Promote translation of technology advances and new pathophysiological knowledge to other patient groups
• Maintain our long and strong collaboration with the Norwegian ultrasound industry, and initiate and develop new strategic relationships
• Strengthen our relations within the integrated university hospital to foster multidisciplinary activity
• Strengthen and initiate collaboration with national and international research- and health institutions
• Publish manuscripts annually in high impact journals

Specific milestones towards 2030

• Increase the academic staff to the equivalent of 3 full time professor positions in technical ultrasound, and the equivalent of 2 full time clinical professor positions in cardiovascular ultrasound within the defined strategic focus areas
• Establish an industry-sponsored professorship in research and innovation
• Obtain funding for a professor II position recruited from industry partners
• Obtain a new SFI with a rejuvenated consortium based on CIUS, in 2023-2024
• Obtain funding for and participate in international research and innovation programmes
• Bring new innovations from research to market

Part 2

Core tasks

Education of students, MScs, MDs, PhDs, researchers, technologists, and clinicians

• Take advantage of our cross-disciplinary knowledge to integrate ultrasound theory, laboratory work and clinical practice in our teaching
• Facilitate active and hands-on student participation
• Ensure that our teaching material is up to date by incorporating recent advances
• Provide education in advanced ultrasound technology and diagnostics for specialists and other experienced user groups

Laboratory work

• Maintain a modern, high-end ultrasound laboratory for research and development
• Maintain test procedures for determining acoustic safety in clinical trials
• Develop accurate validation procedures for our strategic focus areas
• Provide tools for efficient data management and laboratory workflow
• Manage long-term data storage and high-performance computational resources

Research and Innovation

• Produce high-impact technical, clinical, and interdisciplinary research:
  • By exploiting the integrated university hospital
  • By exploiting our research infrastructure to promote innovative studies
  • Through collaboration with key national and international partners
• Identify and exploit clinical needs and knowledge gaps to innovate cardiovascular ultrasound.
• Apply for research grants nationally and internationally to maintain and develop the group’s research and innovation activities, including positions for new researchers
• Support career development and research grants for individual researchers

Dissemination

• Publish our findings in recognized journals and make them openly accessible
• Enhance scientific impact and visibility by collaboration with other research groups and industry
• Present findings at relevant national and international meetings
• Use digital media and information channels to disseminate our research and teaching
• Involve relevant patient organizations in our research

Part 3

Strategic focus areas, internationalization, and organization

Strategic focus areas

• Diagnostics of cardiovascular disease
• Medical ultrasound imaging technology, feasibility and validation
• Clinical studies using new imaging techniques, from feasibility to clinical outcomes
• Population studies including the HUNT Study
• Practical solutions and industry collaboration

Technical focus areas include:

Acoustics and beamforming, signal processing for blood and tissue quantification, image analysis, and machine learning and artificial intelligence

Clinical focus areas include:

Adult, paediatric and foetal cardiology, echocardiography, hand-held ultrasound, and vascular ultrasound

Internationalization

Our scientific work is enhanced in collaboration with key international ultrasound imaging groups. We attract and hire talented international master’s students, exchange students, PhD candidates, postdocs, and researchers. We welcome people from all around the globe to come work with us.

Organization

Our group is organized to promote our key tasks - research, education, innovation. We are organized without hierarchy and welcome all opinions from all members. We have a respectful, open, and inclusive work environment that promotes new ideas, and has room for development of individual academic careers