Recently, several members of the BNAC team and their mentees have been honored by colleagues, the University at Buffalo, and the broader scientific community for exceptional work.

Center Director and University at Buffalo Professor of Neurology Robert Zivadinov, MD, PhD, was one of six UB faculty honored as recipients of the 2022 State University of New York Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities. The SUNY system-wide Chancellor’s Awards recognize “consistently superior professional achievement and the ongoing pursuit of excellence” and the award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities specifically recognizes “those who engage actively in scholarly and creative pursuits beyond their teaching responsibilities.”

Saleha Mir, an undergraduate student working in the laboratory of BNAC Director of Sequence Development Ferdinand Schweser, PhD, was awarded a stipend from the Experiential Learning Fund by the Bauer Foundation for Women in Science and Engineering, which supports undergraduate women in these fields.

Nicholas Young, a medical student working with BNAC Clinical Research Director Dejan Jakimovski, MD, PhD, was awarded the Jacob's School of Medicine Dean's Research fellowship for a project to quantify the characteristics of vascular retinal architectures measured on optical coherence tomography in MS patients and comparing them to MRI-based disease measures, their cerebrovascular status, and their cognitive/disability measures. This is a financial award granted to six medical students pursuing research at UB. Young also was awarded travel support to attend the 10th Annual Meeting of the International Society for NeuroVascular Disease (ISNVD) at New York University Grossman School of Medicine, where he presented a poster.

UB Ph.D. candidate and BNAC researchers’ mentee Ilyes Benslimane was recognized by the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM). Benslimane received the ISMRM Magna Cum Laude Award for his abstract entitled, “Beyond qMRI: Biological tissue properties from single-subject unsupervised deep learning with theoretical signal constraints,” as well as the Beverly Petterson Bishop and Charles W. Bishop Neuroscience Travel Award to support his attendance at the ISMRM.

Several BNAC abstracts were accepted for presentation at the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) 2022 Annual Meeting in April. Presenters included Dejan Jakimovski, Niels Bergsland, PhD, and Robert Zivadinov. Jakimovski made an oral presentation and a poster. Jack Reeves was selected as a recipient of a Beverly Petterson Bishop and Charles W. Bishop Neuroscience Travel Award. Zachary Weinstock was a recipient of the 2022 Medical Student Experience scholarship.