Melanie Morrison, PhD, Joins UCSF Radiology Faculty in the Neuroimaging Research Group
The UC San Francisco Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging is pleased to announce that Melanie Morrison, PhD, has joined our faculty as an assistant professor in residence in the neuroimaging research group starting on December 1, 2022.
Dr. Morrison joined the department in 2016 as a postdoctoral scholar in Dr. Janine Lupo's lab, where she contributed to multi-disciplinary brain tumor research projects. Since 2021, Dr. Morrison has been a neuroimaging specialist in the department. She is the recent recipient of an NIH R01 grant for a new project: Multimodal MRI to Predict DBS Motor and Cognitive Outcomes in Parkinson's disease.
"In addition to her scholarly accomplishments, Dr. Morrison has a strong record of leadership and service in the department and beyond," says Christopher Hess, MD, PhD, UCSF Radiology chair. "Please join me in welcoming Dr. Morrison."
Dr. Morrison served as an academic mentor and event ambassador for underrepresented students at UCSF, UC Berkeley and within the Bay Area secondary education system; on the department's Academic Retreat Committee since 2016; and on the department's DEI committee since 2020.
Dr. Morrison holds a PhD in medical biophysics from the University of Toronto and has completed postdoctoral research at Imperial College London and UCSF, where she was a UC Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow. While at University of Toronto, Dr. Morrison received the James Lepock Memorial Award and the Walker-Marshall Award, both for doctoral student academic excellence. Dr. Morrison has held honorary fellowships at Imperial College London and University of Edinburgh, and was the recipient of the Bruce Hasegawa, PhD, Award for Early-Stage Scientist Research Excellence at UCSF among many other notable recognitions.
Dr. Morrison's independent translational research concentrates on advanced MRI methods to evaluate neurological movement and psychiatric disorders, including surgical neuromodulation therapies used to treat severe conditions. Current collaborative projects include a multimodal 7T imaging study of Huntington's disease; a multimodal imaging study of advanced Parkinson's disease; a multi-center surgical gene-therapy trial for the treatment of Parkinson's disease; and a functional imaging study of obsessive-compulsive disorder, specifically patients who are currently benefiting from deep brain stimulation. Dr. Morrison uses image processing and statistical modeling techniques with a strong emphasis on method transparency, reproducibility, and accessibility. Dr. Morrison's work is supported by three UCSF seed grants, an R21 grant from NIMH and an R01 grant from NIH.