The election for the new student representative of the WMSG for 2011-2012 has now begun! All student members of the WMSG are eligible to vote, just register for an account on this website (wmsg.org), then go to the poll at http://wmsg.org/content/please-vote-next-wmsg-student-rep

ISMRM members who are not yet members of the WMSG can contact Kristina King of the ISMRM to join (it’s free for student members of the ISMRM!).

The nominees are, in alphabetical order:

Amy Kuceyeski
Weill Cornell Medical College, USA

Amy completed her doctoral degree in Applied Mathematics from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH under the supervision of Dr. Daniela Calvetti.  Her thesis involved developing and validating statistical models of metabolic processes in the liver.  After receiving her degree, her interests in mathematical modeling of biological processes turned from the liver to the brain. Amy is currently a postdoctoral fellow of Dr. Ashish Raj, and has received a fellowship training award from the National Institutes of Health to create a white matter “real-estate” map from structural and diffusion MRI data.  This map increases understanding of normal brain connectivity and is used to relate the location and size of white matter injury to cognitive and physical disability.  This map has applications in different pathological states, including traumatic brain injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease.

Fei Li
Dept. Radiology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, China

Fei Li is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Radiology in West China Hospital of Sichuan University with Qiyong Gong, M.D., Ph.D as his tutor in Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC). Currently, Fei put his emphasis on applying diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to investigate the micro-structural abnormality of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in order to evaluate the relationship between white matter microstructure and clinical measures of OCD, as well as utilizing three-dimensional T1 structural and resting-state functional MR to detect the deficit of OCD and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). He had one paper, a DTI research on OCD, just accepted by Radiology. He had made an oral presentation in RSNA 2010 and two E-posters accepted by ECR 2011 and ISMRM 2011 respectively. He is a new member of the WMSG and is very excited to be involved in the community.

Emily Wood
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA

Emily is M.D./Ph.D. student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She is pursuing a Ph.D. in Neuroscience with Daniel Reich in the Translational Neuroradiology Unit, Neuroimmunology Branch, National Institute of Neurological Disease and Stroke, NIH. Emily is currently developing and testing in humans a diffusion spectroscopy method to evaluate the relationship between white matter microstructure, cognitive performance and prognosis in Multiple Sclerosis.  She is a member of the WMSG and is very excited to be involved in the community.

Good luck to all of the candidates!

Thanks to all of the nominees and nominators and those of you who participate in the vote.

Becky