Personal Statement
After receiving an undergraduate degree in Physics from the University of Cambridge, I came to Toronto to conduct research in MRI acquisition methods, at a time when MRI scanners were just starting to appear in clinical radiology departments. I obtained my PhD from the Department of Medical Biophysics and took a postdoctoral position at Massachusetts General Hospital, part of the Harvard Medical School. It was an exciting time, with a prototype echo-planar scanner and pioneering work going on in bolus-contrast MRI perfusion scanning, diffusion tensor imaging and very early attempts at blood-oxygen level dependent (BOLD) functional MRI.
In 1994 I returned to Toronto to join Dr. David Mikulis’ functional MRI group. This extensive experience in the use of BOLD imaging and associated analysis methods to create statistical parametric maps of brain activity provided the groundwork for imaging cerebrovascular reactivity. For this we replace the specific mental tasks used to elicit neuronal activity with a global vasodilating stimulus such as hypercapnia. In place of trying to understand the coordinated activity of brain networks, we consider the vasculature as a plumbing network, which leads to the development of an understanding of how blood vessels in patients with flow-limiting stenoses compensate by vasodilation of downstream vessels and how this can lead to “steal” effects when the vessel networks are competing for blood flow under a global vasodilation stimulus.
In 1994 I returned to Toronto to join Dr. David Mikulis’ functional MRI group. This extensive experience in the use of BOLD imaging and associated analysis methods to create statistical parametric maps of brain activity provided the groundwork for imaging cerebrovascular reactivity. For this we replace the specific mental tasks used to elicit neuronal activity with a global vasodilating stimulus such as hypercapnia. In place of trying to understand the coordinated activity of brain networks, we consider the vasculature as a plumbing network, which leads to the development of an understanding of how blood vessels in patients with flow-limiting stenoses compensate by vasodilation of downstream vessels and how this can lead to “steal” effects when the vessel networks are competing for blood flow under a global vasodilation stimulus.
Contact:
E-mail:
Webpage: Social Media: |