Margaret M. Park, widely known as “Koko” is a respected leader in cardiovascular multimodality imaging, education, and research. She has dedicated her career to advancing sonographic science through clinical innovation, academic scholarship, and professional leadership. She is a Fellow of both the Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography (FSDMS) and the American Society of Echocardiography (FASE).
Koko holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the Oregon Institute of Technology. She has spent the last 25 years of her career dedicated to cardiovascular research as a Lead Imaging Specialist for the Cleveland Clinic Heart, Vascular and Thoracic Institute, C5R Research, and the Lerner Institute of Research. Koko’s special interest lies in pulmonary vascular disease where she has been a champion of RV functional assessment and RV strain through the PVDOMICS NIH consortium.
A prolific author and educator, Koko has written two textbooks on sonography, contributed ten book chapters, and published sixty articles in peer-reviewed journals along with forty-two scientific abstracts. She has delivered more than 150 invited lectures at local, national, and international meetings.
Koko has served on the Board of Directors for the SDMS, ASE, and IAC, helping to shape policy and standards across the field. Koko was honored in 2024 with the SDMS Joan P. Baker Pioneer Award and previously the ASE Lifetime Achievement Award (2017). Throughout her career, Koko’s greatest satisfaction has come from translating research into real-world clinical impact—bringing ideas from the lab into practice to improve patient care and save lives.