Michael J. Potchen, M.D.

I am a neuroradiologist who has been involved in neuroimaging in sub-Saharan Africa since 2005 when I began assisting with efforts for the establishment of the Malawi MRI Facility at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre Malawi. I have been funded in neuroimaging research in Malawi and Zambia since that time. I have been involved with various studies including new-onset seizure patients with HIV in Zambia. I am presently serving as a co-investigator on NIH-funded studies of acute cerebral malaria patients as well as PI on a Dana foundation neuroimaging grant aimed at using a higher field MRI in Zambia to validate the Malawi MRI work. I have been involved in training physicians from Africa and Northern Europe in MRI interpretation since 1996 through institutional support as well as NIH funding. I developed a training curriculum for radiology training in Zambia for which I obtained support from the Zambian Ministry of Health in 2011.I am very interested in neuroimaging as a tool to expand and enhance our understanding of neurologic disorders in resource poor, tropical settings. I led the efforts to develop NeuroInterp, a neuroradiologic research tool that allows for quantification of neuroimaging findings in a searchable data base format designed for use in resource limited settings. I have also had opportunities to lead neuroimaging research in Africa using CT technology, which is often the only imaging modality available. I have traveled extensively in sub-Saharan Africa and reside in the southern African region for several months annually. My interest in training international fellows in neuroradiology, facilitating the use of clinical neuroimaging data through explicit interpretation, optimizing neuroimaging techniques in resource poor settings and the study of neurologic disorders in sub-Saharan Africa will allow me contribute to these efforts.