Yi Wang (PhD 1994, University of Wisconsin-Madison) is the Faculty Distinguished Professor of Radiology and Director of MRI Research Institute at Cornell University, a Fellow of AIMBE, IEEE, and ISMRM. He received the Gold Medal from ISMRM in 2024.

Prof. Wang has been active in MRI research community, serving as a reviewer/panelist for many grant agencies including NIH, the European Research Council and University Grants Committee of Hong Kong, and serving as a PI for multiple NIH grants. He has authored a textbook “Principles of Magnetic Resonance Imaging” and a monograph “Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping”, co-authored a book “Electro-Magnetic Tissue Properties MRI”, and edited a book “Introduction to Medicine for Engineers”. He has published 360+ peer-review journal papers,

Prof. Wang has been continuously innovating MRI technology over the last three decades. He has pioneered the following five technical fields in MRI:

1. free breathing autofocus MRI using navigator motion compensation. This navigator work has been widely adapted in cardiac and abdominal MRI.

2. fast continuous large FOV imaging using stepping table platform with multiple local coils. This stepping table platform has revolutionized MRI system design and is now a standard feature on modern MRI scanners. Siemens’ flagship “Tim-Total image matrix” feature is identical to Fig.9 depicted in his patent US 5,928,148 and has been installed over 9000 times (Siemens Healthineers: Tim).  

3. quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) using Bayesian inference to map tissue magnetic sources. QSM has enabled important scientific research and clinical practices, including mapping brain iron.

4. quantitative transport mapping (QTM) using fluid mechanics to quantify tissue perfusion. This recent QTM eliminates the large errors in traditional methods that use the global arterial input function and is vitalizing perfusion studies of MRI, CT and PET.

5. very recently, organ avatar using multiscale multi-physics simulation to study drug delivery and tissue function. This new work of organ avatar enables quantitative study of drug delivery and tissue function according to underlying biophysics.