David Zhu, Ph.D.

Dr. David Zhu is a Professor in the Department of Radiology; he is an MRI physicist/engineer and a neuroscientist. He has served as the MRI physicist and the lead of the Cognitive Imaging Research Center (http://www.circ.msu.edu/) at Michigan State University (MSU). He also directs a multi-modality neuroimaging research lab.

Dr. Zhu started MRI research in 1995 under the late Dr. Michael Buonocore at University of California Davis and finished his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering in 1999. He developed high-resolution echo planar imaging, arterial spin labeling and 4D phase contrast pulse sequences, and associated analytical techniques. After completing his PhD, he joined GE Healthcare. He worked on various MR methodology developments, including fast spin echo imaging and fast volumetric imaging. He also participated in the development of the new EXCITE MR system. In late 2002, he joined the Brain Research Imaging Center at the University of Chicago as an MRI physicist. Besides MR physics support, he continued his research in MR imaging techniques, specifically, spiral imaging for fMRI, T₁ mapping of the brain and quantification of cerebrospinal fluid dynamics. He was recruited to MSU in 2005 to help develop the fMRI program. In 2006, with a few faculty members, they founded the Cognitive Imaging Research Center (CIRC) to support campus-wide neuroimaging research. He has been leading the support (hardware, data acquisition optimization, experimental design, and data analysis), teaching and the general organizing efforts in CIRC.

Dr. Zhu’s research is multi-disciplinary, with a key interest in neuroimaging. He is a faculty member in Radiology, Psychology, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and both the Cognitive Science and Neuroscience programs. Currently his lab focuses on two research themes: (1) “What is good for the heart is good for the aging brain.” and (2) “Traumatic brain injury”. Along these themes, his lab applies multi-model neuroimaging techniques, using both MRI and PET, to understand how the brain changes over time.

Dr. Zhu’s research has been supported by grants from NIH and NSF. He led the imaging component of the NIH-funded multi-site rrAD clinical trial (https://rradtrial.org/), with the aim to reduce the risks of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Currently, he is leading the imaging components of three NIH-funded clinical trials: One aims to understand the underpinning inter-connected relationships among hypertension, intracranial pulsatility, and brain Aβ accumulation in older adults (HIPAC trial); one aims to understand the impact of intensive treatment of systolic blood pressure on brain perfusion, structure, function, and amyloid and tau accumulation in older adults (IPAT-study) (https://ipatstudy.org/), and one aims to determine whether acute, subacute, and chronic cerebrovascular dysfunction measured by cerebral autoregulation and brain perfusion after moderate to severe traumatic brain injury are associated with cognitive outcomes and neurodegeneration after 12 months (CAPCOG-TBI study).

Dr. Zhu has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles, with a focus on MRI and the brain. For the complete list of his publications, please refer to this link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/david.zhu.1/bibliography/public/