Member Spotlight: Audrey Fan

As an undergrad student at Stanford University, I majored in Electrical Engineering but pursued a pre-med track. I realized late in my junior year that becoming a clinician was not right for me. My academic advisor, Dwight Nishimura, inspired me with his knowledge of signal processing (a topic I loved) and contributions to MRI. He encouraged me to pursue graduate school as a way to contribute my engineering skills to medical imaging and help patients through a different avenue. Upon joining MIT for my graduate studies, I met my soon-to-be Ph.D. advisor, Elfar Adalsteinsson. I resonated (pun intended) with his mentoring style and approach to enhancing MRI, and I couldn’t be more grateful for the MRI journey I’ve taken since. I believe having the right mentors and environment are essential for junior scientists to develop interest in the field.

I love that MRI is so interdisciplinary, and we need all perspectives—engineering, scientific, clinical—to make the technology impactful and accessible. As someone who develops new neuroimaging tools, I’m constantly in awe at our community’s ability to extract quantitative, unseen information about the brain. MRI scientists are unafraid to tackle challenging questions, from probing brain microstructure to understanding how complex brain vessels support neuronal function. And we have the unique ability to convey beautiful, in vivo visualizations of the human body in a way to inspire and inform the general public.

As a new mom of a 10-month old, my current daily schedule can be unpredictable. My job as a faculty member involves teaching courses, mentoring students, serving on committees, and yes—MRI scanning. Between these different facets of my work and family life, my daily schedule varies, which is exciting and also means “balance” straddles across multiple days and weeks. I anchor my evenings and weekends to spending time with my son and family because I believe having a strong identity and support outside of my profession makes me a better scientist and person.

My husband and I love cycling, and in fact we purchased a tandem gravel bike as a wedding gift to ourselves. We’ve recently included our son on bike rides, but haven’t quite figured out how to include our two cats too. I also dabble in Chinese brush painting, for which I took classes as a graduate student.

I have been a member of ISMRM since 2009, and my first ISMRM was in Stockholm. I have not missed an ISMRM meeting since!

ISMRM holds a special place in my heart because it is the society in which I “grew up” scientifically. My first conference was completely overwhelming because of the vast number of attendees and topics covered. I learned, however, that I could make a “big” conference “smaller” by also connecting deeply with a few individuals with similar interests (perhaps other introverts can relate?). Any relationship takes time to build, and attending ISMRM and smaller group settings such as the Imaging Cerebral Physiology meet-ups over the years allowed me to cultivate a supportive network of friend-colleagues. The diversity of people and themes within ISMRM means there truly are connections waiting for each and every member.

I recently finished serving on the Annual Meeting Program Committee, which was a tremendous honor. This past year, I was Clinical Focus Meeting chair and that service allowed me to interact with all the other tables in together constructing a cohesive CFM program around neuroinflammation. Serving on the AMPC enabled me to work with MRI scientists I otherwise may not have met, and our end product—stellar annual meetings—was more rewarding because of it. I hope to continue serving the ISMRM community alongside junior, up-and-coming scientists to innovate in MRI and in how we connect.