Message from the Director

The year 2020 was in many ways a momentous one for the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging. First, we proudly recognized the twentieth anniversary of the gift that gave the Center its name. Given by Thanassis and Marina Martinos of Athens, Greece, in honor of the memory of their daughter Athinoula, the gift has in the past two decades paved the way for countless advances in biomedical imaging research and studies of human disease diagnosis and treatments, and helped launch the careers of more brilliant researchers across science, engineering and translational medicine than we could possibly name here. In short, this catalyzing gift has played a pivotal role in the advancement of biomedical imaging in the 21st century.

Of course, the Martinos Center was built on a foundation that had been laid many years before. The Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Center at Massachusetts General Hospital had already established itself at the forefront of the development and application of biomedical imaging technologies, with the infrastructure and the pioneering talent that have fueled the Martinos Center’s tremendous success. As it happens, the NMR Center launched right around 1980, making 2020 the fortieth anniversary of the Mass General research efforts encompassing magnetic resonance imaging and other, related biomedical imaging technologies.

Hence the “20+20” in this book’s title: twenty years of the NMR Center plus twenty years of the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, adding up to four decades of continuous advances, building on one another to produce a body of work with incalculable impact.

And there’s more to the significance of the number. The COVID-19 outbreak that exploded into a full-blown pandemic in 2020 disrupted life and work across the globe, including at the Martinos Center. But there was a glimmer of a silver lining amidst the struggle. The pandemic not only tested the fortitude and resilience of Martinos researchers and staff and showed these to be in ample supply, it also revealed a strength of character and a powerful sense of community within the Center and beyond. Over the course of the year, those who call Martinos home found myriad ways both to tackle the virus and to help their neighbors through the unprecedentedly difficult times. We couldn’t be more proud of them.

With this book, we aim to provide a broad overview of the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging: the long history of unique scientific and technical achievements, the cutting-edge research still ongoing today, the immense impact the research has had on clinical care and, most importantly, the people in the Center who have made it all possible. We hope the book will show their remarkable clarity of vision—truly 20/20—in seeing and indeed building the future of our field.

Bruce Rosen, Director

Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging