Liv Hatle was a Professor of Cardiology at the University of Trondheim, Norway. In 1976 she experimented with the very first Doppler probes constructed by engineers from the Norwegian Institute of Technology. As well as her Japanese colleague, Professor Akira Kitabatake, she used spectral Doppler to describe transmitral flow velocity patterns for analysing diastole in various diseases. She became the doyenne of diastolic function assessment by cardiac ultrasound.
At the time of M-mode and B-mode imaging, she was the first to use Doppler and the continuity equation for the calculation of aortic valve area and presented this at the American Heart Congress to the scepticism of many of her famous research colleagues in echocardiology. Thanks to her belief in its value and rigorous clinical assessment, it became the preferred method used every day all over the world. She was a pioneer in Doppler analysis of mitral stenosis, and constrictive pericarditis.
She worked at Stanford University (California) and The Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minnesota) between 1985 and 1987, and later in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Leuven, Belgium. She was a strong supporter of the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI) and a past chairperson of its predecessor, the ESC Working Group on Echocardiography. Her passion and dedication had a major impact on the technological development of echocardiography, leading to improved diagnosis and assessment of our patients' conditions. In 2003, she received the ESC Gold Medal, and in 2020, an Honorary Doctorate from the KU Leuven.
Professor Mark Monaghan led the echocardiography department at King’s College Hospital in London for more than 30 years and was also Director of Non-Invasive Cardiology, having joined the hospital in 1973, at the age of 18, encouraged by his uncle, the then Medical Director. King’s was the first hospital in the UK to introduce healthcare scientists, and Mark was the first to become one.
Mark was also the first healthcare scientist in the echocardiography department at King’s to progress to Consultant Clinical Scientist in 1990, and remained the only one in the department to progress towards such position throughout his career and life. His research contributed to the development of contrast echocardiography and 3D echocardiography.
Mark was the second president of the British Society of Echocardiography and Editor-in-Chief of Echo Research and Practice.
He was recently awarded the EACVI Education Excellence Award (Distinguished Master Educator for 2021) and Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE, in 2023).
Both professors Hatle and Monaghan have mentored countless students, clinicians, echocardiographers and scientists over the years.
Their contribution to the field of echocardiography leaves behind an incredible legacy.
Thank you Liv and Mark for everything. Rest in peace.
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