Alexander Leemans

Alexander Leemans – Academic Curriculum Vitae (H-index=41)

PROVIDI Lab

Image Sciences Institute

University Medical Center Utrecht

Heidelberglaan 100 (Room Q02.4.35)

Utrecht – 3584 CX, the Netherlands

Web: http://www.PROVIDI-Lab.org

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Image processing, modeling, Monte Carlo simulations, image analysis, image registration, segmentation, clustering, regularization, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), diffusion MRI, fiber tractography, visualization

EDUCATION

Ph.D. in Science             (2003 – 2006)   Department of Physics, University of Antwerp, Belgium

Title:                      Modeling and Processing of Diffusion Tensor Magnetic Resonance Images for Improved Analysis of Brain Connectivity

Supervisors:     J. Sijbers, P.M. Parizel, A. Van der Linden, and D. Van Dyck

M.Sc. in Physics            (2000 – 2002)   Department of Physics, University of Antwerp, Belgium

Title:                                              Entropy based image registration

Supervisors:                       J. Sijbers and D. Van Dyck

B.Sc. in Physics             (1997 – 2000)   Department of Physics, University of Antwerp, Belgium

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

06/2011 – present                       Associate Professor (tenured faculty position)

Image Sciences Institute, University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands

01/2011 – 05/2011                       Assistant Professor (tenured faculty position)

Image Sciences Institute, University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands

01/2009 – 12/2010                       Assistant Professor (fixed-term faculty position)

Image Sciences Institute, University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands

01/2007 – 12/2008                       Post-doctoral Research Associate

CUBRIC (Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre), Cardiff University, United Kingdom (Supervisor: D.K. Jones).

10/2005 – 11/2005                       Visiting Ph.D. student

The in vivo NMR center, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton (Alberta), Canada (Supervisor: C. Beaulieu).

06/2005 – 07/2005                       Visiting Ph.D. student

The Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Harvard University – MIT Division of Health Sciences & Technology and the Massachusetts General Hospital Radiology Department, Charlestown (Boston), Massachusetts, USA (Supervisor: D. Tuch).

01/2003 – 12/2006                       Ph.D. student (Research and Teaching Assistant)

Vision Lab, Department of Physics, University of Antwerp, Belgium (Supervisor: J. Sijbers).

07/2002 – 12/2002                       Research Student

Vision Lab, Department of Physics, University of Antwerp, Belgium in collaboration with Department of Pharmacology, Organon, Oss, The Netherlands and Department of Orthopedics, Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. European Union grant QLRT-1999-02024: Mechanical Integrity and Architecture of Bone relative to osteoporosis, ageing and drug treatment (MIAB). (Supervisor: D. Van Dyck).

Prizes, awards and honors

1. “Magna Cum Laude Merit Award” for the work “Post-Mortem Diffusion MRI of Cervical Spine and Nerves Roots” presented at the Annual ISMRM Meeting – Singapore, 2016 (first author: W. Haakma)


2. “Magna Cum Laude Merit Award” for the work “Mapping the Brain’s “Sheet Probability Index” (SPI) with Diffusion MRI: Sheet Happens?!” presented at the Annual ISMRM Meeting – Singapore, 2016 (first author: C.M.W. Tax)


3. “Winner Brain Art Competition” in the category “Best Video Illustration of the Brain” with “The Trumpeting Brain”, Organization of Human Brain Mapping (The Neuro Bureau), 2015


4. “Young Investigator Award” for the work “Predicting school age cognitive capacities from the neonatal connectome in preterm born children” presented at the 1^st Congress of joint European Neonatal Societies meeting, Budapest, 2015 (first author: K. Keunen)


5. “Distinguished Reviewer Award” for the distinguished service to the Society during 2013-2014 as a reviewer for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 2015


6. “Best Research Contribution in Bio-imaging” with the work: “Towards Quantification of the Brain’s Sheet Structure in Diffusion MRI Data” presented at the International BASP Frontiers workshop – Villars-sur-Ollon, Switzerland, 2015 (first author: C.M.W. Tax)


7. “Human Brain Mapping Editor's Choice Award for papers published in 2013” with the article: “Investigating the prevalence of complex fiber configurations in white matter tissue with diffusion MRI” (HBM-11-0658), 2014 (first author: B. Jeurissen)


8. “Summa Cum Laude Merit Award” for the work “Diffusion Tensor MRI and Tractography of the Sacral Plexus in Children with Spina Bifida” presented at the Joint Annual ISMRM-ESMRMB meeting – Milan, Italy, 2014 (first author: W. Haakma)


9. “Magna Cum Laude Merit Award” for the work “Towards Quantification of the Brain's Sheet Structure: Evaluation of the Discrete Lie Bracket” presented at the Joint Annual ISMRM-ESMRMB meeting – Milan, Italy, 2014 (first author: C.M.W. Tax)


10. “Magna Cum Laude Merit Award” for the work “In Vivo Investigations of Accuracy and Precision of Fiber Orientations in Crossing Fibers in Spherical Deconvolution-Based HARDI Methods” presented at the Joint Annual ISMRM-ESMRMB meeting – Milan, Italy, 2014 (first author: S.B. Vos)


11. “Magna Cum Laude Merit Award” for the work “Microstructural Development of the Corpus Callosum ‘catches Up’ Between Term and 7 Years in Children Born <30 Weeks’ Gestation or <1250 G” presented at the Joint Annual ISMRM-ESMRMB meeting – Milan, Italy, 2014 (first author: D.K. Thompson)


12. “Outstanding Teacher Award” for ISMRM Sunrise course “From Pulse Sequence to Clinical Applications in the Brain: Diffusion Tensor Imaging”, 21^st Annual ISMRM Meeting – Salt Lake City, USA, 2013


13. “Magna Cum Laude Merit Award” for the work “REKINDLE: Robust Extraction of Kurtosis INDices with Linear Estimation” presented at the 21^st Annual ISMRM meeting – Salt Lake City, USA, 2013 (first author: C.M.W. Tax)


14. “Summa Cum Laude Merit Award” for the work “HARDI and fiber tractography at 1 mm isotropic resolution” presented at the 21^st Annual ISMRM meeting – Salt Lake City, USA, 2013 (first author: S.B. Vos)


15. “Magna Cum Laude Merit Award” for the work “A Critical Consideration on the Absence of Significance and the Impact of Structure Size When Interpreting DTI and DKI Results” presented at the 21^st Annual ISMRM meeting – Salt Lake City, USA, 2013 (first author: F. Szczepankiewicz)


16. “1^st Prize Art of Neuroscience 2013” in category “Movies” (http://aon.nin.knaw.nl, see movie here: http://youtu.be/agNp0QKv3f8) – in collaboration with Sjoerd Vos, 2013 (prize: tablet computer)


17. “Outstanding Teacher Award” for ISMRM Sunrise course “Absolute Beginner's Guide to Neuroimaging Methods”, 20^th Annual ISMRM Meeting – Melbourne, Australia, 2012


18. “1^st Prize Best Research Image” at the 1^st Congress on Muscle Diseases, organized by the “Prinses Beatrix spier fonds” and “Spierziekten Nederland”, Veldhoven, The Netherlands (prize was a digital single-lens reflex camera), 2012


19. “2^nd Prize Innovative Research” for the work “Diffusion tensor MRI and tractography of the sacral plexus” presented at the 23^rd Annual Meeting of the European Society for Paediatric Urology, Zurich, Switzerland, 2012 (first author: P. van der Jagt)


20. “Young Investigator Award” for the work “Longitudinal assessment of chemotherapy induced structural changes in cerebral white matter and its correlation with impaired cognitive functioning in breast cancer patients” presented at the International Cognition and Cancer Task Force Conference, 2012 (first author: S. Deprez)


21. “Best Poster Award” for the work “Tract Coherence Imaging (TCI): Quantifying the intra-voxel fiber tract heterogeneity”, presented at the WM study group meeting at the 20^th Annual ISMRM meeting – Melbourne, Australia, 2012 (first author: S.B. Vos)


22. “Magna Cum Laude Merit Award” for the work “Uncertainty of quantitative T1 mapping in healthy volunteers at 7.0 Tesla” presented at the 20^th Annual ISMRM meeting – Melbourne, Australia, 2012 (first author: D. Polders)


23. “Summa Cum Laude Merit Award” for the work “HARDI-based methods for fiber orientation estimation” presented at the 20^th Annual ISMRM meeting – Melbourne, Australia, 2012 (first author: B. Jeurissen)


24. “Summa Cum Laude Merit Award” for the work “White matter microstructural changes in bipolar disorder: A HARDI CSD study” presented at the 20^th Annual ISMRM meeting – Melbourne, Australia, 2012 (first author: L. Emsell)


25. “President’s Prize for Best Translational Paper” (from Basic Science or Theory through development to clinical application) for the work “Diffusion tensor MRI and tractography of the sacral plexus” presented at the 55^th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society for Research into Hydrocephalus and Spina Bifida (SRHSB) – Nottingham, UK, 2011 (first author: P. van der Jagt)


26. “Top-Citation Award” for the publication “Microstructural maturation of the human brain from childhood to adulthood” (Lebel C. et al, NeuroImage 40(3):1044-55, 2008), which is the most cited NeuroImage article from the 956 articles published that year.


27. “2^nd Prize for Best Diffusion MRI Modeling and Tractography Algorithm” for the work “Fiber Tracking on the ‘Fiber Cup Phantom’ using Constrained Spherical Deconvolution”, presented at the MICCAI Meeting – London, UK, 2009 (first author: B. Jeurissen)


28. “1^st Prize European Brain Expert” for the work “To Rotate B or not to Rotate B?: The importance of B-matrix reorientation during realignment of diffusion tensor MRI data” submitted to the 2^nd European Brain Expert Neuroscience Contest (prize: 5.000 EUR), 2008


29. “3^rd Prize Magnetic Art Award” for the work “Dead Presidents” presented at the “Art ‘N’ Artifacts” exhibit at the joint annual Meeting ESMRMB-ISMRM – Berlin, Germany (prize: iPod), 2007


30. “3^rd Prize Research Focus Poster” for the work “A graphical toolbox for exploratory diffusion tensor imaging and fiber tractography” presented at the 14^th Annual SMRT Meeting – Miami, USA, 2005


31. “Cum Laude Award” for the work “In vivo visualization of the neuroanatomy and brain connectivity of starling brain through diffusion tensor imaging” presented at the 21^st Annual Scientific ESMRMB Meeting – Copenhagen, Denmark, 2004 (first author: M. Verhoye)


32. “Young Investigator Award: Belgian Hospital Physicist of the Year”, announced at the 20^th Annual Symposium of the Belgian Hospital Physicists Association – Brussels, Belgium (prize: 500 EUR), 2004


33. “Cover images” selected for (i) the handbook "Clinical Neuroanatomy and Neuroscience", M.J.T. FitzGerald, G. Gruener, and E. Mtui (Eds.), http://amzn.com/0702037389), “The Psychologist” (April Issue, 2015); Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging (May Issue, 2016) and (ii) nine articles that I (co)authored: Van Hecke et al, NeuroImage 2008; Lebel et al, NeuroImage 2008; Leemans et al, MRM 2009; Polders et al, JMRI 2011; Deprez et al, HBM 2011; Deprez et al, Brain Imaging Behav 2013; Reijmer et al, Neurology 2013; Veraart et al, NeuroImage 2013; Vos et al, Hear Res 2015.