MRIRI Directory

Hui Han, Ph.D., an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering in Radiology, specializes in advancing MRI hardware and software techniques for clinical applications in oncology, cardiology, and neuroscience. Before joining Cornell, he held the positions of Associate Professor and Director of MR Engineering at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. His original contribution on "iPRES" MR coils (Magn Reson Med, 70(2013), 241–247 & US Patents 9,874,616 / 9,864,025 / 10,185,001) represents a notable advancement in designing next-gen RF array coils for MRI scanners since the introduction of NMR phased array coils. Currently, Dr. Han holds the roles of President at OCSMRM, the premier international society for Chinese-origin MRI researchers abroad since 1989, and Chair of the ISMRM MR Engineering Study Group. Additionally, he leads major NIH projects and reviews grants, while his lab frequently offers positions, including Ph.D. students, postdocs, project scientists, and junior faculty members.

Ziyang Long graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. He is now pursuing a Ph.D. in Bioengineering at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Ziyang’s research is centered on enhancing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) through advanced shimming and RF coil techniques.

Yun Shang, Ph.D., received his doctorate, M.P.H., and M.Sc. from Columbia University; another M.Sc. from East China Normal University; and his B.E. from Shanghai University of Science and Technology. 

Xuanyu Zhu, Ph.D., received his doctorate from The University of Queensland, Australia, and his B.E. in Biomedical and Information Engineering from the Northeastern University, China.

Dr. Gene Kim is a professor of biomedical engineering in radiology at Weill Cornell Medicine. He received his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from the University of Southern California and completed his postdoctoral fellowship in cancer imaging at the University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on the development of quantitative dynamic contrast-enhanced and diffusion magnetic resonance imaging methods for early detection of cancer and assessment of treatment response, particularly in breast cancer and head and neck cancer. Dr. Kim’s laboratory has been funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Seung Koo Lee is an assistant professor of cell biology research in Radiology Department at the Weill Cornell Medicine. He earned his Ph.D. in immunology from Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea. During his Ph.D. course, he studied the signaling mechanisms of vitamin C that control tumor proliferation, and apoptosis in colon cancer and melanoma. He then completed postdoctoral training at the Houston Methodist Research Institute, where he invented a layer-by-layer nanoplatform (LbLN) that delivers a short interfering RNA (siRNA) and imaging probe to various cancers. His research focuses on the development of, (1) innovative multi-functional molecular imaging probes for various disease states including cancers and, (2) drug delivery systems for diagnostic, therapeutic and clinical applications.

Miran Jang holds a bachelor’s and master’s in bio and brain engineering from KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology). Throughout her master's program, she developed an innovative microfluidics device for single-algal-cell cultivation. After completing her master’s degree, Miran joined the analytical team at Celltrion R&D Center, a leading biologics company. Her research expertise revolves around developing physical and chemical analysis assays for antibody biologics. She has experience developing antibody drugs, from early development to final approval. She has managed and led major BLA (Biologics License Applications) studies for biosimilars and a new drug.

Sawwal Qayyum received his bachelor’s degree in biology from Ramapo College of New Jersey. During his undergraduate training, he spent his seminar year looking at embryogenesis-lethal genes in C. elegans using RNA interference (RNAi) and  clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 to visualize protein localization via green fluorescent (GFP) recombinant vectors. He previously worked at the New York University Langone Medical Center as a senior animal care technician, attaining there his laboratory animal technologist certification. He spent two years interning at the Preclinical Imaging Core headed by Dr. Wadghiri. There he became familiar with different modalities of optical imaging, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and tumor pH probe design. In the Gene Kim lab, Sawwal is studying the effect of metronomic chemotherapy on the tumor vasculature and angiogenesis of orthotopic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and glioma mouse models using dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE)-MRI.

Myung-Shin (Cindy) Han holds a master's in Molecular Biology from Sookmyung Women's University in Seoul, Korea. After finishing her master’s, Cindy worked as a research manager in orthopedic surgery at Seoul National University Hospital, researching tumor immunity and stem-cell therapy with bone grafts. She had also served as a Research Assistant to research molecular optical imaging with tumor cell lines and animals for 5 years at the Methodist Hospital Research Institute, Houston, TX. Since 2013, she's worked at Weill Cornell Medicine. For over 20 years, Han has had myriad experiences in animal experiments, and her expertise extends to innovative nanomedicine for tumor imaging and therapy. She's also working with sprayable fluorogenic dyes for image-guided ovarian cancer surgery.

Eddy Solomon’s research combines diverse aspects of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), including pulse sequence programming, advanced image reconstruction, and pre-clinical and clinical patient studies. He received his Ph.D. from the department of chemical physics at the Weizmann Institute of Science, where he developed novel MR methods, based on spatiotemporal encoding (SPEN) principles. He is now a Weill Cornell Medicine faculty instructor of chemical physics in the radiology department. He works on head and neck cancer using diffusion and dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) approaches. His aim is to advance body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods in humans, to improve both basic knowledge and patient care.

Mark Mikkelsen, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of neuroimaging at Weill Cornell Medicine. He was awarded his doctorate in neuroimaging at the Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC). He specializes in magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) research, developing novel methodologies and applying them to neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders and diseases. In particular, he focuses on advanced methods for the noninvasive measurement of low-concentration metabolites in the living human brain, such as the inhibitory neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and the antioxidant glutathione (GSH). Dr. Mikkelsen also develops open-source software and data processing tools for analyzing MRS data.

Jessica Archibald earned her B.Sc. in Biological Sciences from the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, and pursued her M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees at the University of British Columbia, British Columbia, Canada. Her research centered on the neurobiology of pain using advanced magnetic resonance imaging techniques. Her Ph.D., focused on non-invasive neurochemical measures yielding a normative database of structural, functional, and biochemical measures of the adult human brain. These findings aid disease comparisons and can benefit individuals with neurological disorders by advancing scientific understanding. Jessica's academic journey has been supported by NSERC scholarships throughout her graduate studies. Additionally, she has been honored with multiple travel awards that enabled her to conduct research projects at Balgrist University Hospital in Switzerland. There, she gained valuable experience working with patients afflicted by neurological disorders, particularly those suffering from neuropathic pain, while further honing her analytical skills.

Amy E. Bouchard, Ph.D., received her doctorate in Neuroscience at Université Laval in Quebec City, Canada, where she studied the neural substrates of gambling disorder using various neuromodulation and neuroimaging techniques. Her work was supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship Doctoral Award.

Current research in our laboratory focuses on the development of advanced magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and imaging (MRI) methods for application in clinical and biomedical research. Our goal is to develop noninvasive and objective MRI- and MRS-based biomarkers of neurological, neuropsychiatric and metabolic disorders that would advance our  understanding of their pathophysiology,  facilitate their diagnosis and enable monitoring of their response to established or emerging therapeutic interventions. Examples of current projects include MRS measurements of levels of the neurotransmitters gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate in pediatric and adult depression and in schizophrenia.  We are also using MRS to measure brain lactic acid, the antioxidant glutathione (GSH), several high-energy phosphates (e.g. ATP, PCr), and other metabolites in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS), mitochondrial disorders,  Parkinson’s disease, and brain and breast cancers.

Angela Deng received her B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan and is now a Ph.D. student in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Cornell University. Her current research interests include quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) and deep learning.

Mert Sisman is from Ankara, Turkey, where he also received both his BSc. and MSc. degrees in Electrical and Electronics Engineering. He is now a Ph.D. student in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at Cornell. Always interested in medical research, and a huge fan of math, he found his way into MRI research.  He is currently interested in developing novel algorithms to improve quantitative imaging modalities. You can always find him playing video games unless he is doing a movie marathon

Nazish Murad, Ph.D., received her doctorate in biomedical engineering from National Central University, Taiwan. A research enthusiast with a passion for unraveling machine learning and its biomedical imaging applications, Dr. Murad has been honored with prestigious scholarships and awards, including the Ph.D. fellowship from the National Central University and CTCI Research Scholarship. Dr. Murad specializes in optical image reconstruction—signal-to-image biomedical imaging—and has applied myriad machine-learning techniques to tackle medical challenges. Passionate about innovation and mentorship, Dr. Murad thrives on pushing the boundaries of knowledge and making impactful contributions to the scientific community.

Rigoberto Vazquez Jr. earned his B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from California State University in 2019 and his M.Sc. in Nuclear Engineering & Radiological Science—with emphasis in Materials and Medical Physics—from the University of Michigan in 2021. Vazquez is now pursuing his Ph.D. in the biomedical engineering program administered by the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences and Cornell University Graduate School. His current research interest focuses on the design and development of MRI RF coils for nonconventional anatomical regions using conductive materials and a variety of 3D-printing techniques. 

Mengying Zhang earned her B.Eng. from the National University of Singapore in Electrical Engineering and her B.A. in Neuroscience and Behavior from Columbia University. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Dr. Winkler’s Lab through the Cornell University Graduate Linkage program. Mengying’s research focuses on developing advanced machine-learning algorithms and designing dielectric pads to improve MRI scans by reducing hotspots and enhancing field homogeneity. She aims to leverage these innovations to improve diagnostic imaging quality, ultimately facilitating better disease detection.