Bonnie Ky, MD, MSCE

Founders Professor of Cardio-Oncology
Faculty Member, Cardiovascular Institute, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Faculty Member, Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Director, Penn Center for Quantitative Echocardiography
Member, Abramson Cancer Center
Director, Thalheimer Center for Cardio-Oncology
Member, External Advisory Board, Radiation Oncology Translational Center of Excellence
Department: Medicine
Contact information
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
11-105 Smilow Center for Translational Research
3400 Civic Center Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19104
11-105 Smilow Center for Translational Research
3400 Civic Center Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Office: 215-573-6606
Fax: 215-746-7415
Fax: 215-746-7415
Email:
bonnie.ky@uphs.upenn.edu
bonnie.ky@uphs.upenn.edu
Publications
Education:
BS (Chemical Engineering )
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1995.
MD (Medicine)
University of Pennsylvania, 2001.
MSCE (Clinical Epidemiology)
University of Pennsylvania, 2009.
Permanent linkBS (Chemical Engineering )
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1995.
MD (Medicine)
University of Pennsylvania, 2001.
MSCE (Clinical Epidemiology)
University of Pennsylvania, 2009.
Description of Clinical Expertise
My clinical expertise is in noninvasive imaging by echocardiography and the care of cancer patients with cardiovascular concerns, risk factors, or disease.Description of Research Expertise
Cardiotoxicity from cancer therapy is detectable, preventable and treatable. This is the focus of Dr. Ky’s research program. Cancer therapies are becoming increasingly effective at killing cancer, but these treatments also have toxic side effects, resulting in a growing population of cancer patients and survivors with heart disease. In our lab, we are studying innovative strategies to understand the changes in heart function that occur with common cancer therapies, and how we can apply these methods to understand an individual patient’s risk of developing heart disease and heart failure. Our goals are to bring these exciting research findings to the clinic and continue our mission of delivering state-of-the-art, evidence-based medicine to cancer patients and survivors regionally and nationally. We highlight 3 recent discoveries from our lab below.How breast cancer therapy affects heart function. In a recent paper published in Circulation, we rigorously and comprehensively define the precise changes that occur with heart function over time in breast cancer patients treated with doxorubicin, trastuzumab and radiation. We found that with these cancer therapies, there are modest, but persistent declines in heart function, even at 3 years post treatment exposure. We also determined that afterload, or blood pressure, is a major determinant of this adverse remodeling. These findings might suggest that aggressive blood pressure control is critical in mitigating a patient’s risk of developing heart dysfunction. We have proposed new trials to test this hypothesis.
How innovative new imaging tools can predict heart damage with cancer therapy. We are also interested in discovering new strategies to predict the risk of subsequent heart damage in cancer patients. In two separate manuscripts published in the Journal of American College of Cardiology Imaging, we have used 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional ultrasound techniques in order to more precisely and deeply understand how the heart functions. We have discovered that early changes in 2D and 3D circumferential strain, or deformation, are associated with the risk of developing cardiotoxicity with anthracyclines.
How simple blood tests – using new markers – can predict heart damage with cancer therapy. We are also studying the role of new blood markers of oxidative stress – and how they can predict who will develop heart damage with anthracycline chemotherapy. These findings were published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. We are now testing in a clinical trial how these blood markers can be used to understand why statins might protect the heart and who may benefit the most from statins when receiving anthracycline chemotherapy.
Selected Publications
Hundley WW, O'Connell NS, Kirkman DL, Olson KC, Reding KW, Ky B, Ruddy KJ, Lesser GJ, D'Agostino RB Jr, Hundley WG, Bellissimo MP.: Statins to reduce renal sinus fat among breast cancer patients undergoing anthracycline-based chemotherapy: A substudy of PREVENT-WF-98213. PLoS One 20: e0318017, Sep 2025.Juhasz V, Drobni ZD, Quinaglia T, Gilman HK, Suero-Abreu GA, Ghamari A, Heemelaar JC, Neuberg DS, Han Y, Ky B, Kwong RY, Januzzi JL, Asnani A, Mousavi N, Redd RA, Jerosch-Herold M, Scherrer-Crosbie M, Neilan TG.: Atorvastatin and Left Atrial Function During Anthracycline-based Chemotherapy. J Cardiovasc Magn Reson Aug 2025.
Meng X, Eulalio T, Kim Y, Easton J, Mulder HL, Walker E, Neale G, Song N, Shelton K, Howell RM, Xing M, Mirzaei S, Srivastava DK, Ky B, Dixon SB, Hudson MM, Ness KK, Armstrong GT, Wang Z.: Epigenetic Age Acceleration Mediates Treatment Effects on Cardiometabolic and Cardiovascular Risk in Childhood Cancer Survivors. JACC CardioOncol Jun 2025.
Berkman AM, Liu Q, Yasui Y, Grishman E, Ehrhardt MJ, Ky B, Rhea IB, Delaney A, Wilson CL, Ware M, Ness KK, Armstrong GT, Hudson MM, Dixon SB.: Cardiometabolic outcomes after bariatric surgery in adult survivors of childhood cancer: a SJLIFE report. J Natl Cancer Inst Jun 2025.
Barrett MA, Demissei BG, Hu R, Smith AM, Freedman G, Plastaras J, Feigenberg S, Berlin E, Narayan HK, Lefebvre B, Crosbie MS, Fradley M, Carver J, Chen J, Ky B.: 3D Echocardiographic Phenotyping of Left Ventricular Mechanics and Function With Contemporary Radiation Therapy. Adv Radiat Oncol 10: 101786, Apr 2025.
Fanaroff AC, Orr JA, Anucha C, Kim E, Rareshide C, Echevarria M, Rodarte S, Kassabian M, Balasian E, Ky B, Volpp KGM, Armenian S. : A randomized controlled trial of gamification to increase physical activity among black and Hispanic breast and prostate cancer survivors: Rationale and design of the ALLSTAR clinical trial. Am Heart J 280: 42-51, February 2025 Notes: Epub 2024 Nov 4.
Sutton AL, O'Connell NS, Lucas AR, Olson KC, Reding KW, Sheppard VB, Ky B, Ruddy KJ, Weaver KE, Hundley WG.: Socioeconomic status and left ventricular ejection fraction decline in breast cancer survivors following receipt of doxorubicin (PREVENT WF-98213). Cardiooncology 11: 11, Feb 2025.
Daniel L, Bellissimo MP, D'Agostino RB Jr, Olson KC, Ladd AC, Reding KW, Weaver KE, Lesser GJ, Ky B, Hundley WG; UPBEAT Study Team.: Intermuscular Fat and Physical Activity Levels Relative to Exercise Capacity Change During Breast Cancer Treatment. JACC CardioOncol 2025.
Jung W, Hubbard RA, Smith AM, Ko K, Huang A, Wang J, Isaacs JM, Zhang L, Liu PP, Chen Z, Shah PD, Mintzer D, Bhattacharya S, Knollman HM, Clark AS, Koropeckyj-Cox D, Messinger M, Wilcox NS, Xia C, Narayan V, Upshaw JN, Armenian SH, Ky B.: Risk-guided cardioprotection with carvedilol in patients with breast cancer (CCT guide): a phase 1 randomized clinical trial. Breast Cancer Res Treat 2025.
Anderson E, Choi Y, Buchsbaum RJ, Klein A, Ky B, Landsburg D, Durani U, Ruddy KJ, Yu AF, Leong D, Asnani A, Neilan TG, Ganatra S, Bloom M, Barac A, Yang EH, Deswal A, Cheng RK, Weiss M, Evens AM, Kahl B, Friedberg JW, Parsons SK, Upshaw JN.: Hematology-oncology provider perspectives regarding lymphoma treatment and cardioprotective strategies in patients with lymphoma at high risk for heart failure. Leuk Lymphoma 2025.