
WHO WE ARE
Our Scientists

ELS FIEREMANS
Associate Professor
I am a faculty at the Department of Radiology, Center for Biomedical Imaging, New York University School of Medicine, where I spearhead the MRI Biophysics group, together with Dr. Dmitry Novikov. I graduated Magna Cum Laude in Engineering in Physics from Ghent University in 2003, where I subsequently received my PhD in 2008 on Validation Methods for Diffusion Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Brain White Matter. I was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Biomedical Imaging, New York University School of Medicine during 2008-2011. Currently, my research focuses on early biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases, novel contrasts from time-dependent diffusion MRI, and numerical simulations and design of MRI phantoms.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
- Monte Carlo simulations and physical phantoms
- Biophysical modeling and subsequent animal validation
- Design of imaging markers for white matter tract integrity describing axonal loss, demyelination and axonal injury from clinically usable diffusion protocols (e.g., diffusional kurtosis imaging) to assess neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, cancer, as well as normal development
- Multimodal imaging studies in Alzheimer’s pathology using MR-PET
- Design of imaging markers from time-dependent diffusion in brain, muscular pathologies and prostate cancer
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
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Ades-Aron B, Coelho S, Lemberskiy G, Veraart J, Baete SH, Shepherd TM, Novikov DS and Fieremans E. Denoising Improves Cross-Scanner and Cross-Protocol Test-Retest Reproducibility of Diffusion Tensor and Kurtosis Imaging. (2025) Hum Brain Mapp. 46, e70142 Pubmed Hum Brain Mapp PMC Article
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Voronova AK, Grigoriou A, Bernatowicz K, Simonetti S, Serna G, Roson N, Escobar M, Vieito M, Nuciforo P, Toledo R, Garralda E, Fieremans E, Novikov DS, Palombo M, Perez-Lopez R and Grussu F. SpinFlowSim: A blood flow simulation framework for histology-informed diffusion MRI microvasculature mapping in cancer. (2025) Med Image Anal. 102, 103531 Pubmed Med Image Anal
AWARDS AND HONORS
- 2020: Hirschl-Weill-Caulier Career Scientist Award for Academic Excellence
- 2014-2015: Fellow, Raymond and Beverly Sackler Laboratories for Convergence of Physical, Engineering and Biomedical Sciences in Honor of Saul J. Farber
- 2013: Junior Investigator of the Charleston Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease
- 2009: Henri Benedictus fellowship, Belgian American Foundation and King Baudouin Foundation