People

CENTRE DIRECTOR
Corree Laule, PhD
Dr. Corree Laule is a Professor in Radiology and Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, the Vice Chair of Research, Radiology and Associate Director of Education & Training, International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries. She leads an interdisciplinary research program focused on in vivo and post-mortem magnetic resonance imaging in multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injury which spans MRI technical innovations, validation, and clinical translation. She is the co-founder of seed2STEM, which provides Indigenous high school students paid internships in UBC-Vancouver and UBC-Okanagan research labs.

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR
Irene Vavasour, PhD 
Dr. Vavasour is a Senior Imaging Scientist and has a wide breadth of experience with human MRI imaging studies across many diseases and MRI techniques. She has been a leader in the field of MRI for over 30 years with expertise in advanced MRI analysis, study coordination, team management.

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, PRE-CLINICAL
Stefan Reinsberg, PhD 
Dr. Stefan Reinsberg is an Associate Professor in Physics & Astronomy. He focuses on developing and applying advanced MRI techniques to study tissue metabolism, microstructure, and disease processes, particularly in the context preclinical oncological research.

MRI CLINICAL SCIENTIST and ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, EDUCATION & TRAINING
Erin MacMillan, PhD
Erin is the MRI Clinical Scientist with deep expertise on Philips MRI systems, and develops and implements new MRI techniques for a wide range of applications. Erin is particularly interested in MR spectroscopy, myelin water imaging, and multi-nuclear imaging & spectroscopy. Erin also serves as the Associate Director for Education & Training, and in this capacity she organizes the weekly MRI seminar series, helps train MRI operators, teaches in the course Introduction to Medical Physics (PHYS 404), and serves on the supervisory committees for graduate students in Medical Physics & Physics.
Her personal research website
Her location calendar

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, CLINICAL TRANSLATION
Donna Lang, PhD
Dr. Donna Lang is a neuroscientist and an Associate Professor in Radiology. She specializes in psychiatric neuroimaging with a focus on mental health research. Her expertise lies in applying advanced imaging techniques to study psychosis and addiction, particularly in the context of exercise interventions. She works closely with clinical colleagues, guiding research studies with a focus on equitable clinical impact, and supporting training for residents, fellows, and other clinical trainees in research methodology and translation

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, EQUITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
Rebecca Feldman, PhD, PEng
Dr. Rebecca Feldman is an Assistant Professor in Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics at UBC-Okanagan. She leads projects in advanced pulse sequence development and multi-nuclear imaging, drives innovation in sodium MRI, propels clinical translation of novel MRI techniques, and actively fosters inclusivity and diversity within the research community.

CENTRE RADIOLOGIST
Talia Vertinsky, MD, FRCP
Dr. Vertinsky is a Clinical Professor of Radiology, UBC, and full time Clinical Neuroradiologist at VGH.  She has a BSc in Cellular Biology and Genetics from UBC and MD from UBC and completed Residency in Radiology at UBC and Fellowship in Neuroradiology in Stanford.  She is responsible for all Radiological aspects of the Imaging Centre and supports & facilitates translational applications of research.

RESEARCH MRI SUPERVISOR
Laura Barlow, BHSc, RTR, RMTR
Laura has 18 years of Medical Imaging experience with 7 years in clinical MRI practice. She joined the UBC MRI Research centre team in 2015 and has enjoyed the transition to research. She is responsible for the staff and daily operations of the clinical research MRI facility.

SCIENTIFIC ENGINEER
Andrew Yung, MSc
Andrew joined the Imaging Centre in 2004 having graduated with a Master’s degree from Johns Hopkins in Biomedical Engineering. Andrew brings experience and expertise in radiofrequency coil development . He is responsible for daily operations of the Bruker Biospin 9.4T MR scanner and is the Safety Officer for the 9.4T facility.

604-822-6938

RESEARCH TECHNICIAN
Kirsten Bale, BSc
Kirsten joined the pre-clinical team in September 2019 after completing her BSc in Physics at UBC, where she devoted time to the study of NMR. She brings experience in data analysis and is responsible for operating the pre-clinical scanners.

604-827-3971

RESEARCH ADMINISTRATOR
Karina Antonenko, MBA
Karina Antonenko brings with her more than 7 years of administration experience at UBC and over 16 year experience in financial management as well as more than 9 year experience with HR processes and management. She is responsible for overseeing and managing all administrative, human resource and financial operations of the Imaging Centre.

604-822-7352

MRI TECHNOLOGIST
Jeannette Procter, BSc, RTMR
Jeannette was originally trained in England, and has called Canada home since 2005. She has over 20 years of experience in MRI, and is looking forward to the opportunity to expand her knowledge and experience in advanced imaging techniques.

MRI TECHNOLOGIST
Jaemin Chung, BSc, RTMR
Jaemin received her education in Ontario before returning to Vancouver in 2017. Prior to becoming an MRI technologist, she worked as a nuclear medicine technologist.

MRI TECHNOLOGIST
Peter Kapela, Bsc, RTMR, RTNM
A long time ago in a brain and behaviour class, images of what happens in the brain in an MRI machine when certain actions are performed gave Peter the inspiration to look into the technology that made such images. It was MRI, and subsequent study and work has exposed him to all kinds of ways that we peer into our bodies, especially our brains. It was a straight route beginning in Nuclear Medicine (2005), CT (2009), and a BSc in Life Sciences at UBC. The MRI training was completed in 2011. In 2012 he moved to England and worked as a Nuclear Medicine and PET/CT technologist. In 2016 he moved to Saskatoon and worked mostly as a clinical MRI technologist. Peter and his family moved back to Vancouver in 2022, and he also works at St Pauls as an MRI Technologist. Peter brings a wide range of experiences and is excited to join the team to explore new aspects of what medical imaging technology can show us.

MRI TECHNOLOGIST
Pietro Paolo de Barros, MSc, RTMR
Pietro has been an MRI technologist since 2012 and holds a Master’s degree in Radiological Protection. Originally from Brazil, he has extensive experience in clinical exams and image post-processing. In 2022, seeking new experiences, he moved to Vancouver to work at St. Paul’s Hospital. In July 2024, Pietro joined the UBC MRI Research team to further contribute to research and deepen his expertise in the field.

Associate Professor, Pediatrics
Alexander Rauscher, PhD
Dr. Rauscher is a physicist and Canada Research Chair in Quantitative MRI. He obtained his PhD from Vienna University of Technology (Austria), working on susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) in Vienna and at Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Germany). His lab develops new MRI methods and investigates how myelin, iron, and blood oxygenation in the brain influence the MRI signal. He translates his work to research in multiple sclerosis, concussion and newborns.

Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Engineering
Roger Tam, PhD
Roger Tam obtained his Ph.D. in computer science in 2004 from the University of British Columbia (UBC) in the research areas of computational geometry, shape modelling, and visualization. He joined the UBC Department of Radiology as a faculty member in 2007. In 2018, he became a founding member of the UBC School of Biomedical Engineering, which has been his home department since 2022. His research interests centre on image analysis, machine learning, and personalized medicine. His teaching interests focus on experiential learning and engineering design.

Philips MR Clinical Scientist
Guillaume Gilbert, PhD
Guillaume is an expert Philips MR Clinical Scientist based in Montreal.

FORMER DIRECTOR
Piotr Kozlowski, PhD 
Dr. Piotr Kozlowski is the former director of the Imaging Centre. Piotr has a great deal of experience in working with small bore MRI systems.

FORMER CENTRE RADIOLOGIST
David Li, MD, FRCP
Dr. David Li was the Centre Radiologist from 2003 to 2021. He is Professor Emeritus of Radiology and Emeritus Director of the MS/MRI Research Group.

FORMER DIRECTOR
Alex MacKay, PhD
Dr. Alex MacKay was the Director of the UBC MRI Research Centre from 2003-2019. He is Emeritus Professor of Physics & Astronomy and Radiology.