MRI inventor to lecture on his scientific discovery

Raymond V. Damadian, an inventor of magnetic resonance imaging, will lecture on “MRI: A story of discovery in medicine” at 5 p.m. May 17 in Room 5019 of UB’s Clinical and Translational Research Center, 875 Ellicott St., Buffalo.

Free and open to the public, the talk, sponsored by the Department of Radiology in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, is the annual Alfred H. Dobrak, MD Radiology Lecture.

One member of the audience at the lecture has heard this talk before, but will be listening intently anyway — that’s Brianna Damadian, the inventor’s granddaughter and a student in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences Class of 2017. Her description of her grandfather as a major source of inspiration in her life reflects his apparent enthusiasm for everything he did.

“My grandfather attended every school event and milestone in my life, from something as small as the elementary school Grandparent’s Day tea to my white coat ceremony in medical school,” she said. “Growing up hearing the stories of his work with the MRI certainly has made an impact on my career choice, though perhaps not in the way most would think. It is not his invention itself that inspires me each day; rather, it is the passion with which he speaks of his work and the genuine desire he has to better the lives of those burdened by disease.”

In his lecture, Damadian will discuss how he made the transformational discovery that led to the technology that is such a critical part of medical diagnostics and treatment today.

He also will talk about the latest news from Fonar Corporation, the company he founded in 1978 and whose MRI machines are now being used in the diagnosis and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, including multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.

Light refreshments will be served before the lecture, beginning at 4:30 p.m. A reception follows the lecture from 6-7 p.m. No registration is necessary. For more information, contact Michelle Kasprzyk at mmkasprz@buffalo.edu or 716 829-5641.

A recipient of the National Medal of Technology in 1988, Damadian was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1989. In 2001, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Lemelson-MIT Prize Program as the man who invented the MRI scanner.