Forum for Applied Imaging Research (FAIR): Focused Ultrasound in Neuroscience

Clinical HIFU for treatment of Essential Tremor

Dr. Leo Sugrue is a Neuroradiologist who cares for adults and children with conditions affecting the brain and spine. Dr. Sugrue has a particular interest in imaging the brain circuits responsible for complex thought and behavior. These circuits are affected in a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders, ranging from movement disorders like essential tremors to mental illnesses such as depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Dr. Sugrue works closely with colleagues in psychiatry, neurosurgery, and neurology to develop new circuit–based approaches to diagnosing and treating these conditions using a variety of techniques including electrical stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and focused ultrasound. He co-directs the recently founded UCSF Neuroscience Program in Focused Ultrasound.

Dr. Sugrue has a joint appointment in the Department of Psychiatry and directs the Laboratory for Precision Neuroimaging at UCSF, which works to integrate brain imaging with genetic, health, and behavioral data to better understand, diagnose, and treat brain disease. The lab operates from the perspective that brain disorders have different underlying causes in different people, with the goal of personalizing trials and treatments for individual illnesses.

LIFU applications in Neuro-Oncology

Dr. Kazim Narsinh is a neurointerventional radiologist at UCSF. Prior to joining the faculty, Dr. Narsinh obtained a medical degree at the UC San Diego School of Medicine, where he was a Howard Hughes Medical Research Fellow. He then completed a surgical internship at Stanford, a radiology residency at UC San Diego, an interventional radiology fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, a neuroradiology fellowship at UCSF, and a neurointerventional fellowship at UCSF.

MRI for monitoring FUS effects

Dr. Eugene Ozhinsky is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging at, the University of California San Francisco. His main research interests are in the areas of machine learning for musculoskeletal imaging and MR-guided focused ultrasound therapy.

Dr. Ozhinsky is working at the VA Advanced Imaging Research Center (VAARC, part of the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System) on the development and implementation of machine learning techniques for automated image processing, analysis, and prescription of musculoskeletal X-ray, MRI, PET, and CT images. The goal of this work is to improve care for the VA patient population by enabling precise diagnostics, prediction of disease progression, as well as response to therapy.

MRI for monitoring FUS effects

Dr. Kisoo Kim earned his Bachelor's degree and Master's degree in Science in Biomedical Engineering from Kyung-Hee University,  He continued to earn his PhD degree in Biotechnology from the University of Strasbourg.  Dr. Kim's research interest is developing all relevant MRI and focused ultrasound techniques for a faster, safer, and more precise procedure in MRgFUS applications.  His other interests include MR guided Focused Ultrasound, MR Thermometry, Real-time MR imaging, MR Elastography, and Hyperthermia.