Faculty
Professor Kaleem Siddiqi
Research interests: Shape analysis of 2D and 3D anatomical structures - [website]
Dr. Siddiqi is a Professor in the School of Computer Science at McGill University and he is the Principal Investigator of this CREATE program. He is also a member of McGill’s Centre for Intelligent Machines. In 2007 he received the Carrie M. Derick Award for excellence in graduate training and supervision at McGill University. His work has been funded by operating grants grants from NSERC, FQRNT and CFI, including a 2008 NSERC Discovery Accelerator Supplement. His interests lie in computer vision, medical imaging and shape analysis. He is a principal author (with Stephen M. Pizer) of the book “Medial Representations: Mathematics, Algorithms and Applications” (Springer, 2008).
Professor Tal Arbel
Research interests: Probabilistic techniques in computer vision and in medical imaging (e.g. neurology and neurosurgery) - [website]
Dr. Arbel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and is a member of McGill’s Centre for Intelligent Machines. She has strong collaborations with neurologists, biomedical engineers, and neurosurgeons at the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI), as well as ties with local companies, including NeuroRx Research and Elekta. These ties have resulted in successful grant applications (e.g. NSERC Strategic Project), and have provided her students with access to large, realistic medical image databases acquired during clinical trials and trained medical expertise, as well as with industrial training and job opportunities in the private Biotechnology sector. She has received several university and government research grants (e.g. NSERC Discovery Research Grant, NSERC Discovery Accelerator Supplement, CFI New Opportunities Fund) to support her work. In addition, she received the prestigious NSERC University Faculty Award (UFA).
Professor Louis Collins
Research interests: Computerized image processing techniques (e.g. non-linear image registration, model-based segmentation) for identifying structures within the human brain and for quantifying anatomical variability - [website]
Dr. Collins is a Full Professor of Biomedical Engineering at McGill University. As head of the Image Processing Laboratory (IPL) at the BIC, he presently supervises a laboratory of 20 people (10 graduate students, 3 pdfs, 2 research associates, 2 engineers, 2 visiting scholars and 1 staff member) that investigate neuroscientific applications of three dimensional (3D) digital image processing methods such as registration, segmentation and tissue classification with applications in disease diagnosis, prognosis and for 3D modeling in image guided surgery. Since joining McGill as a faculty member 12 years ago, Dr. Collins has co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed journal papers and has supervised over 60 graduate and undergraduate students, PDFs, and research staff.
Professor Maxime Descoteaux
Research interests: Diffusion MRI acquisition, processing and visualization to infer white-matter connectivity in the human brain - [website]
Dr. Descoteaux is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Sherbrooke University and is a member of the Centre de Recherche Clinique Étienne-Le Bel. His techniques are applied in neurosurgical planning and neuroimaging studies of the aging white matter with collaborators at the CHUS (Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Sherbrooke). He has obtained several grants as principal investigator (NSERC, MDEIE, CFI). He has published numerous peer- reviewed journal articles and has received several prizes for his research. These include the “Chercheur Étoile” (CREPUQ 2010), being named the best researcher in 2010 at Sherbrooke University, a Discovery of the year Quebec Science award in 2009, the Herbsmann Prize at the prestigious IPMI conference in 2010, and an award for the best PhD thesis in information technology in France in 2008.
Professor Catherine Laporte
Research interests: Ultrasound image analysis to address problems in 3D data acquisition, tissue modelling and characterization, tissue motion tracking, image registration, segmentation and volumetric reconstruction - [website]
Dr. Laporte is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at École de technologie supérieure, since obtaining her Ph.D. from McGill University in 2010. Through collaborations with researchers at the Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Centre, she is working to develop minimally invasive image-guided techniques for medical interventions on the spine. She has published in some of the best fora in the area of medical image analysis. She teaches advanced undergraduate classes in biomedical instrumentation and medical imaging, and is attracting a growing team of graduate students.
Professor Bruce Pike
Research interests: MRI methods and applications for basic and clinical neuroscience research, quantitative MRI methods for anatomical and functional imaging of healthy and diseased brains - [website]
Dr. Pike is the Killam Professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery and a James McGill Professor of Biomedical Engineering at McGill University, and is also a Chercheur Nationaux (National Researcher) of Québec (FRSQ). He is the Director of the McConnell Brain Imaging Centre (BIC) of the Montréal Neurological Institute. He has a very strong track record of research grant funding from national and international agencies and has served on advisory boards for programs at leading institutions such as Yale, University College London, and the National Research Council of Canada’s Institute for Biodiagnostics. Dr. Pike has published over 180 scientific papers and book chapters and has supervised 30 trainees during the past 6 years.
Professor Amir Shmuel
Research interests: Quantitative analysis of the neurophysiological basis underlying functional brain imaging signals, mechanisms and limits of high-resolution functional brain imaging using hemodynamic signals - [website]
Dr. Shmuel is the director of the Brain Imaging Signals Lab at the MNI, an Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Neurology & Neurosurgery, and an Associate Member of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at McGill University. He holds a Canada Research Chair in Neuroscience and Brain Imaging. Dr. Shmuel has made important contributions to the understanding of the mechanisms underlying the blood oxygenation and blood flow signals, and the functional organization of early visual areas in the brain. He has published papers in prestigious journals, and has given numerous invited lectures. His laboratory employs an integrative approach, using combined MRI, optical imaging, neurophysiology and modeling. His research is supported by grants from HFSP, NSERC, CIHR and CFI.
