Executive Director of MRI Research

Description

Position Objective

MRI research at CWRU and UH is driven by a group of ~20 faculty spanning a wide range of topic areas from basic science through patient care. The group has been highly successful, bringing in over $50M in grants in the last 4 years alone. This effort is spearheaded by strong MD and PhD joint collaborations resulting in 14 new NIH R01 awards as well as significant growth of the Imaging Research Core’s clinical research component to support and sustain that effort.  The underpinning of this scientific effort is a >30-year sponsored research agreement between CWRU/UH and Siemens Healthineers that has resulted in numerous inventions and joint patents. In particular, the recent significant invention of the novel Magnetic Resonance Fingerprinting (MRF) technology in 2013 has been a focal point for a major transformation / expansion of MRI technology that is the innovative core for nearly all of these new basic science and clinical NIH and foundation grant awards.

At the same time, the MRI research team, led by the efforts of Dr. Griswold and others, has worked with Siemens Healthineers to establish the necessary computational and research infrastructure to enable widespread adoption of MRF in the Cleveland area and eventually throughout the world. As an example, MRF is now operationally deployed to be included in EVERY clinically-ordered brain and prostate 3T MRI scan at University Hospitals – Cleveland Medical Center. These large-scale MRF efforts will be expanded in the near future to include breast and other routine clinical scans. These MRF data are: 1) obtained with consent; 2) automatically reconstructed and visible on the scanner; and 3) included in the clinical PACS for inclusion in the clinical reads by radiologists. This highly enabling approach will provide tens of thousands of brain and prostate MRF datasets each year that will facilitate new clinical discoveries as well as new research and grant opportunities. These efforts will also lead to additional prospective multi-center clinical imaging trials that will have the opportunity to change the clinical radiology practice in many areas.

However, there are some significant challenges that will need to be addressed to sustain and grow on this success.  Among these challenges are: 1) active recruitment of current MRI team members away from CWRU/UH; 2) recruitment of new faculty, post-docs, students, and staff to the MRI team; and 3) fully leveraging the talent of our MRI team to build an effective MRI research center.

To address these immediate and long-term needs, the MRI research team wishes to recruit a new MRI Research Program Director. This program director would be embedded within the MRI research team with the primary goal of developing and implementing a strategic plan for the MRI team that includes: 1) new scientific and research opportunities; 2) faculty, staff, post-doc, and student retention and career development; 3) philanthropic opportunities and engagement; 4) multi-institutional (CWRU/UH/Siemens/etc) engagement to fully integrate the MRI team’s needs/plans; 5) coordination of a center-level grant submission and award to sustain the MRI research team’s infrastructure; 6) coordination of the recruitment of new mission-critical faculty, staff, post-docs and students to sustain the scientific strategic plan; and 7) fiscal leadership of the existing grant awards and planned grant opportunities to ensure that funds are best used to meet the needs of the MRI research team.

Essential Functions

1.    Serve as a key member of the MRI research leadership team. Work with the MRI faculty, staff, and trainees to define, build, and sustain a coordinated strategic plan for the MRI research team. The primary tenants of this strategic plan will include: 1) a coordinated scientific plan across the funded and planned research projects of ~20 MRI research faculty that aligns with the mission and plans for CWRU and UH; 2) an aggressive marketing and recruiting and career development plans for faculty, staff, and trainees to sustain the MRI research team and efforts; and 3) define strategic interactions and activities between the MRI research team and industrial partners. (20%)

2.    Develop and coordinate faculty research interest and research funding opportunities, support faculty to prepare large collaborative, multi-investigator, and/or center-level (P-level) grant proposals to support imaging research, and serve as a direct point of contact for external sponsors. Facilitate collaborative interactions within and outside of the MRI research team by coordinating new and expanded technology development teams. (20%)

3.