Plenary Speakers
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Jürgen Hennig
Medical Physics, Department of Radiology
University Medical Center Freiburg
Title of talk: Innovation in MRI: Back to the Future?
CV: Prof Dr Dr h.c. Jürgen Hennig is Professor Emeritus of the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology at the Freiburg University Medical Centre. His research focuses on the development of methods in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopy, functional neuroimaging, molecular imaging and MRI in oncology as well as in cardiac and metabolic diseases.
He studied chemistry in Stuttgart, London, Munich and Freiburg and obtained his PhD in physical chemistry in 1980. After postdoctoral positions in Freiburg and Zurich, he was a research fellow in Freiburg from 1983 to 1992 and completed his habilitation in medical physics in 1988. In 1993, he became a full professor at the University of Fribourg and held various senior positions, including Research Director and Co-Chair of the Department of Radiology - Medical Physics. He retired in 2021.
Prof Hennig has received numerous awards, including the European Magnetic Resonance Award (1992), the Gold Medal of the Society of Magnetic Resonance (1994) and the Max Planck Prize (2003). He is an honorary member and honorary doctor of several international societies and universities.
Prof. Laura M. Schreiber, PhD, MBA
Leiterin des Departments Bildgebung, Deutsches Zentrum für Herzinsuffizienz (DZHI)
Department Bildgebung, Universitätsklinikum Würzburg
Title of talk: Excellence and Objectivity and the Human Factor in Research
CV: Prof.Dr.rer.nat. et med.habil. Laura M. Schreiber, MBA, is W3 Professor and Chair of Molecular and Cellular Imaging at the University of Würzburg and heads the Cardiovascular Imaging Department of the German Comprehensive Heart Failure Center at the University Hospital there. Together with her team and many interdisciplinary cooperation partners from medicine, natural sciences and engineering, she develops the latest imaging methods for cardiological and radiological diagnostics as well as for biomedical research. She designed and operates an imaging center for translational research in Würzburg. Here she develops methods and multi-channel transmit/receive coils for ultra-high field MRI at 7T. Other research interests include the use of artificial intelligence, MRI-based quantification of tissue perfusion of the heart, brain and lungs, and lung imaging with hyperpolarized and perfluorinated gases. Furthermore, she was Ombudswoman for Good Scientific Practice at the University of Würzburg, University Women's Representative, and has been the contact person for anti-discrimination since 2024. She is a certified business coach (DBVC) and runs a part-time coaching company for leaders in science and medicine.
Prof. Schreiber studied physics at the Ludwig Maximillians University in Munich, obtained her doctorate at the University of Heidelberg in 1994 and habilitated in medical physics at the University of Mainz. From 1991 to 1997 she worked at the MRI Center of the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, and in 1995 she was a visiting scientist at the MR Center of the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston (USA). In 1997, she founded the "Medical Physics" department at the Department of Radiology at Mainz University Hospital, where she was appointed C3 professor in 2003. In 2007, she received a Master of Business Management in Science and Higher Education from the University of Applied Sciences in Osnabrück. In 2014, she moved to the University of Würzburg, where she founded the Department of Cardiovascular Imaging at the German Center for Heart Failure.
Natalia Petridou, D.Sc.
Associate Professor, High Field & Translational Neuroimaging Groups,
Imaging Division / Center for Image Sciences, University Medical Center Utrecht
Title of talk: From blood to neuron - how close can we get with BOLD fMRI in humans?
CV: Natalia Petridou is an Associate Professor at the High Field and Translational Neuroimaging groups of the UMC Utrecht. Her research is at the intersection of neuroimaging, biomedical engineering, computational neuroscience, and fundamental neuroscience. The ultimate goals are to enable non-invasive quantitative MRI measurements that can be used to infer neuronal and vessel function in the human brain, and to further our understanding neurovascular coupling mechanisms in health and neurovascular pathologies. On the technical side, her research group develops innovative MRI methods at human ultra-high field (7 tesla) to enable measurements of neuro-vascular function at the level of detail that is fundamental for brain function (μm to few mm). On the neuroscience side, her group seeks to elucidate neurovascular coupling mechanisms in the human brain at the same level of detail. Part of this research focuses on the development and validation of computational models that can enable quantitative assessment of neuro-vascular function from MRI measurements. This includes assessment of spatial (e.g. laminar) and temporal aspects of function of neuronal populations and of intracortical vessels (e.g. vascular reactivity, blood flow patterns). She pursued a doctor of science (D.Sc.) degree in biomedical engineering and neuroscience at the unit of Functional Imaging Methods, National Institutes of Health, and the George Washington University, USA. She was a post-doctoral Sir Peter Mansfield fellow at the SPM Magnetic Resonance Center, Nottingham University, UK.
Dr. Lars G. Hanson
Groupleader, Associate Professor
Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance
Center for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research
Copenhagen University Hospital
Section for Magnetic Resonance, DTU Health Tech, Technical University of Denmark
Title of talk: Mapping current-induced fields in the brain using MRI
CV: Lars G. Hanson graduated in Physics and obtained a PhD on fast spectroscopic MR methods from University of Copenhagen in year 2000. Studies were conducted at Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics, Stanford University and the Danish Research Center for Magnetic Resonance (DRCMR). Lars is a senior researcher at DRCMR and Assoc. Prof. in the MR section at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), where he is also Head of Studies for the Biomedical Engineering MSc program. He is involved in development and application of a wide range of MR methods, recently for hyperpolarized imaging, motion tracking, tumor characterization and current density imaging. He developed the widely used online CompassMR and Bloch simulators for teaching of MR, and is also known for his writings and videos on the connection between classical and quantum MR descriptions.