His pioneering work in cardiac imaging using advanced MRI, CT and echocardiography has led to noninvasive techniques for predicting cardiovascular disease and calculating its extent, as well as measuring the effectiveness of modern cardiac treatments. He holds numerous patents on devices and methods for cardiac imaging and image-guided therapies.

A long-time investigator with the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), Dr. Lima is credited with more than 175 articles out of that study and nearly 575 publications over his career. He is associate editor of Journal of the American College of Cardiology and serves on the editorial board of the Italian Journal of Cardiology while reviewing for other journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, Circulation and Annals of Internal Medicine. Dr. Lima has been invited to present his research throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia.