Peter Caravan

Peter Caravan received his BSc (Honors) at Acadia University and his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of British Columbia (under the guidance of Chris Orvig), followed by an NSERC postdoctoral fellowship at the Université de Lausanne (under the guidance of André Merbach).

He then spent 9 years at Epix Pharmaceuticals developing tissue-specific and responsive MRI contrast agents where he was ultimately responsible for all chemistry and contrast agent research at the company. He is co-inventor of EP-2104R, a fibrin-specific contrast agent for thrombus detection, that is the first molecular MR imaging agent to enter into human clinical trials. He joined the Radiology faculty at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in 2007. Dr. Caravan’s current research focus is on the development and application of new PET and MR imaging probes and in exploiting the inherent synergies in dual PET-MR imaging.

Dr. Caravan has contributed 7 book chapters and 4 review articles on the chemistry, properties, and uses of imaging agents over the last 10 years.He has published over 40 peer reviewed papers on synthetic organic, inorganic, and physical chemistry of imaging probes, the biophysics of the interactions of these probes with proteins, and their application in animal models of disease. Dr. Caravan is co-inventor on 15 granted or pending patents related to new imaging agents and methods for their use.