Talks and shows

How to image the heart

We can hear and feel our hearts with no trouble. But how can we see them?

A drawing of a baby while it's in the womb. The heart is highlighted in red.
Milou van Poppel

Your heart is essential to your daily life. They speed up when you’re running around, excited, or even nervous, and keeps the blood pumping around your body! But how can we know if something is wrong with our heart when we can’t see it?



Medical scanning and imaging means that we can keep an eye on our hearts and discover when something might be wrong; all without opening up our chest. And it's not just those who have already been born that can be checked. Medical advances mean we can even scan and image a babies heart when they are still in the womb!



Join Milou van Poppel as she discusses her work on imaging hearts in unborn babies and the different ways you can use imaging techniques to look at the heart. Explore techniques like MRI and Echo, and how discoveries and inventions made at the Royal Institution made these techniques possible!

This talk is suitable for those aged 13+. There will be real medical images used throughout the talk.

Thanks to the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, we have some free tickets available for this talk. These are reserved for those that would not normally be able to attend our lectures at full cost. These tickets are available on a first come, first served basis, so please email events@ri.ac.uk.

Event type

This is a theatre only event where the speakers and audience are together in our Theatre.

By booking to attend events at the Royal Institution, you confirm that you have read and accept the Ri's event terms and conditions. You also agree to abide by our code of conduct, and help to create a great experience for yourself and your fellow participants. Please note that Eventbrite adds a small booking fee to the amount paid for each ticket option.

For any queries regarding this workshop please get in touch by phone 020 7409 2992 or email events@ri.ac.uk.

About Milou van Poppel

A black and white image of a woman with her arms crossed across her chest.
Milou van Poppel

Milou van Poppel is a PhD student at King’s College London and medical doctor at Evelina London Children’s Hospital/ St Thomas’ Hospital in London. She uses fetal and paediatric cardiac imaging to gain new insights in congenital heart disease and is involved in the development of new fetal imaging techniques. Her research focuses on using fetal cardiac MRI to further improve the diagnosis of congenital heart disease in unborn babies. 

Accessibility

The event will take place on the first floor and there is step-free access from the street via lift.

The closest underground station is Green Park, which is step-free.

There is space at floor level in the theatre for wheelchair users.

Seating is usually unreserved for our events. If you and your group require seating reservations, please do let us know by emailing us at events@ri.ac.uk, and we’ll be more than happy to help.

Carers can receive a free ticket to an event by emailing events@ri.ac.uk.

Our theatre is equipped with an Audio Induction Loop. 

Covid guidelines

Face masks are no longer mandatory and wearing one in our Theatre and at other Ri events is at your discretion, however please do not attend the Ri if you are displaying Covid symptoms or, if you have tested, the result remains positive. Thank you for respecting other people and their choices, and for helping us keep all of our visitors and staff safe and well.

Event terms and conditions

Building closures from 9 December onwards

We are closed on the 10 and 12 December, along with other closures during the week starting 9 December, full details here.