MRI Technology and the Movement to Create Global Accessibility
Abstract:
MRI has been a transformative technology in healthcare, but can fairly be charged as having been "by the rich, for the rich," with ever increasing field strengths, expensive hardware, and concentration in high resource environments. Recently, there has been a movement within the MRI world to use advances in hardware, image reconstruction, and computing to change this narrative, and explore lower field strengths with an eye towards lowering costs and barriers to access. In this talk, I will discuss what access means for patients around the world, the recent (re)exploration of lower field scanning, and where this movement might go in the future.
Bio:
Vikas Gulani is the Fred J. Hodges Professor and Chair of the Department of Radiology and co-Director of the Michigan institute of Imaging Technology and Translation (MIITT). He is committed to a collaborative, diverse, and friendly work environment where people are valued above all else, and yet clinical, research, and teaching excellence is expected. He trained in Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and then did his MD and PhD work at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His residency and fellowship training are from the University of Michigan, and he also completed a postdoctoral year in Physics at the University of Würzburg in Germany. His research interests include quantitative MRI, fast MRI, MRI guided intervention, accessible MRI, abdominal/pelvic MRI, and prostate and liver imaging.