Matthew R. Walker
Matt Walker is a recent PhD graduate of the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Toronto. He is also an MSc graduate from Queen's University where he was part of the SNO+ experiment, an underground neutrino detector in Sudbury, ON, under the supervision of Dr. Mark Chen and Nobel Laureate Dr. Art McDonald. Previously he has worked on MR instrumentation and contrast agents at the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience in Lethbridge, AB with Dr. Albert Cross.
Matt's doctoral work focused on coupling diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) with magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS). Tractography algorithms can be used to visually reconstruct nervous system fibers to enhance targeting with MRgFUS and quantitative diffusion metrics can be used for the in vivo assessment of microstructural changes following treatment. He continues this work in application to both the central and peripheral nervous systems. Currently, Matt is collaborating with the Fujitsu Co-Creation Research Laboratory and the University of Toronto on using physics-inspired optimization to automatically generate treatment plans for Gamma Knife radiosurgery. In his spare time, Matt enjoys playing basketball, playing drums, and complaining about things. |