Sharmila Majumdar honored with ISMRM 2016 Gold Medal

The International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) announced this week it has awarded its 2016 Gold Medal to Sharmila Majumdar, PhD, professor and vice chair for research of the department of radiology and biomedical imaging at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Majumdar is also director of the Musculoskeletal and Quantitative Imaging (MQIR) group at UCSF.

Majumdar received the honor for linking quantitative imaging methods to “musculoskeletal tissue composition, biochemistry, and skeletal biomechanics and function.” She is scheduled to be given the award on May 9.

“Quantitative MR has created tremendous advances in the areas of osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, and injury-related joint degeneration,” Majumdar said in a prepared statement. “These conditions affect millions of people, have significant impact on the quality of life, and are a major economic burden. It is exciting to see many of the tools and methods developed here at UCSF in multi-center studies. This award is for our entire team, and I am very grateful to the collaborative and inclusive faculty, as well as the postdocs and trainees working in the MQIR group, for their support of our mission.”

“Dr. Majumdar has been a leader in MRI for 30 years and has in particular pioneered the development and applications of quantitative imaging to diagnose and understand musculoskeletal disorders.” John C. Gore, PhD, professor of radiology and radiologic sciences and director of the Institute for Imaging Sciences at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tenn., said in the same statement. “Her work has had broad translational impact on the clinical management of common problems of joints and cartilage.”