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Dr. rer. nat. Wasif Zia earned government certification for pioneering work during his final year project in 2008, before going on to complete his doctorate at RWTH Aachen University, Germany (2016). He has also co-authored a leading textbook on compact/mobile NMR devices (Compact NMR, De Gruyter Boston/Berlin, 2014). He holds the world record in building and shimming arguably the smallest permanent magnet based novel MR device that can fit into a cell phone, including other single-sided and closed Halbach-like geometries. He specializes in data acquisition techniques and MR methodologies to tackle low signal, in high noise environments with X-nuclei.
After his doctorate, Dr. Zia went on to develop high wattage flexible coils and other rigid coils for 9.4 T and medical 7 T MRI scanners in the UK (2018), before joining Columbia University Chemical Engineering to develop MR velocimetry capabilities at the Zuckerman Institute and Columbia University Medical Center.
Currently, he is dedicated to building arguably the world’s most powerful MRI scanner – the 9.4 T neuro-imager at Nathan Kline Institute. Columbia University and NKI envision becoming leaders in human brain research and the development of ultra-high field MR equipment in the years to come. The combination of field strength (9.4 Tesla) coupled with the superior gradient system, make this equipment unsurpassed in terms of spatial and temporal resolution.