Imaging Core – Team

MOUNT SINAI

Cheuk Tang, PhD (Co-Investigator)

Associate Professor of Radiology and Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Director, Neurovascular Imaging Research
Associate Director, Imaging Science Laboratories
Director, In-Vivo Molecular Imaging SRF

Dr. Cheuk Tang’s lab is involved with the research and development of novel imaging strategies for the study of neuro-psychiatric diseases. The work consists of both hardware and software development. The lab develops novel image analysis software approaches to integrate functional and structural connectivity using DTI, DSI and fMRI. The lab has also developed novel technologies (e.g. olfactory meter, real time fMRI) in use for the study of memory, OCD and mood-disorders.

For this Program Project, Dr. Tang will be responsible for brain fMRI imaging and PET/MR imaging acquired at Mount Sinai and will also liaise with the imaging core and assist with analysis of brain FDG-PET data.

MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL

Ahmed Tawakol, MD (Co-Investigator – Imaging Core & Project 3)

Associate Professor of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital
Co-Director, Cardiac MR-PET-CT Program

Dr. Ahmed Tawakol is currently Co-Director of Cardiac MR-PET-CT Program and a Cardiologist at MGH. Dr. Tawakol’s research focus is in translational and clinical studies using multi-modality imaging techniques, utilizing positron emission tomography (PET) in combination with CT and MR. He will be responsible for all PET/MR imaging conducted at MGH as part of this study and liasing with the imaging core. He will supervise the hematopoietic organs PET/MR analysis that will be performed at Mount Sinai as well as provide support and supervise the vascular FDG-PET/MR analysis performed at Mount Sinai.

Lisa Shin, PhD (Co-Investigator – Imaging Core & Project 3)

Principal Investigator, Tufts University, School of Arts and Sciences, Department of Psychology

Dr. Lisa Shin is a Principal Investigator at Tufts University in the Department of Psychology.  The research in Dr. Shin’s Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Neuroimaging Lab involves using neuroimaging techniques such as fMRI and PET to examine brain function during the performance of cognitive tasks in individuals with anxiety disorders, especially PTSD.  For this study, she will be responsible for designing the fMRI paradigms and will supervise the brain data analysis at MGH.

More about Shin’s PSTD Neuroimaging Lab: http://ase.tufts.edu/psychology/shinLab/research/

David Sosnovik, MD, FACC (Co-Investigator)

Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Director, Program in Cardiovascular Imaging, MGH-Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging

Dr. David Sosnovik is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an Attending Cardiologist at MGH. His clinical interests lie in general cardiology, heart failure, valvular and congenital heart disease. His principal research interests lie in the development of novel cardiac imaging modalities.

He is currently the Director of the Program in Cardiovascular Imaging in the MGH-MIT Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging. His research focuses on molecular imaging, diffusion MRI of the myocardium, high field MRI, the development of new contrast mechanisms and rapid imaging techniques, and novel platforms for advanced imaging in humans. For this study, he will help adapt vascular MRI and protocols for multi-center use and will work closely with Drs. Fayad and Mani to provide expertise in analyzing the vascular MRI data.

More about the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging: http://www.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/cardiovasc/index.html

Ciprian Catana, PhD (Co-Investigator)

Associate Professor in Radiology, Harvard Medical School
Director, Integrated MR-PET Imaging, Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, MGH

Dr. Ciprian Catana is Director of Integrated MR-PET imaging at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, MGH and Associate Professor in Radiology at Harvard Medical School. He has extensive experience in combining PET and MRI and is currently focusing on developing quantitative MR-PET for human use. Working closely with dozens of basic science researchers and physician-scientists, Dr. Catana is applying this novel technology to the study of normal brain and neuropsychiatric diseases as well as exploring its clinical potential for whole-body oncological applications. As part of this Program Project, he will help adapt and standardize the brain PET/MR and fMRI imaging protocols across imaging centers.

Basma Hammad

Research Fellow, Imaging Analysis, MGH

Basma is interested in atherosclerosis imaging and studying the downstream consequences of stress on atherosclerosis disease spectrum using PET/CT imaging.

Ying Wang

Research Fellow, Imaging Analysis, MGH

Ying’s research interests include linking the amygdala activity, arterial inflammation, bone marrow activity and spleen activity using PET/CT imaging to better understand the relationship between stress and disease.