History

The Biomedical Imaging Program at the University of Virginia began in the early 1980s with the collaboration of a small group of faculty with similar interests in the research and development and applications of medical imaging. It then evolved to a more formal program in the early 1990s encompassing a broader range of faculty in several University Departments such as Biomedical Engineering, Radiology, Cardiology, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. New graduate courses in Medical Imaging Modalities and Medical Imaging Analysis were established in the Biomedical Engineering Department in 1986 to satisfy the increasing number of pre-doctoral trainees interested in this type of training program. Further consolidation of the program occurred in 1994 with the award of a three-year grant of $409,000 from the University of Virginia Academic Enrichment Fund to develop a more structured graduate medical imaging program. The award of $12.5 million to the Biomedical Engineering Department by the Whitaker Foundation in 2000 has also provided a significant expansion of resources and permitted more focused faculty recruiting in areas such as cardiac MRI, ultrasound, optical and molecular imaging to add breadth to the program.
Whereas the initial faculty interests were primarily based on research techniques in areas such as ultrasound, MRI, CT, and image processing, faculty interests now encompass the much wider range of biomedical imaging research reaching from molecular imaging through small animal to human and clinical diagnostic investigations. The training environment also now includes specialized technologies in optical and molecular imaging and specialized MR, digital X-Ray and nuclear systems to perform micro-imaging of transgenic mice. The graduate training program has always had a strong interdisciplinary nature with a firm didactic basis from the graduate courses taken by the trainees in the Engineering School coupled with close research collaborations with clinical colleagues in the Medical School.