Ferenc Jolesz First Monday Research Seminar Series
The Department of Radiology holds a monthly Ferenc Jolesz Seminar Series presented by Harvard Medical School investigators, as well as speakers from other institutions, on a wide range of topics related to image-guided therapy.
These seminars honor the late FERENC JOLESZ, MD who founded the multidisciplinary image-guided therapy program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and is widely known as a founding father of the field of image-guided therapy.
UPCOMING SEMINARS
DATE: Monday, May 5th, 2025 | TIME: 12:15pm-1:15pm | LOCATION: This seminar will be held in the ANESTHESIA LECTURE HALL and via Zoom.
Located at 45 Francis Street entrance on the L1 level. Enter through the sliding doors at the 45 Francis Street entrance, go straight through the lobby. You will be on the 2nd floor. Take a left onto the 2nd floor hallway called “the Pike”. Continue straight until you see the Mary Horrigan Connors elevators on your right. Take these elevators to level L1. When you exit the elevators, look directly to your left. There will be a set of double doors with a sign for the Anesthesia Department. Enter through these double doors and continue straight until you reach a wall. Make a left and the room will be straight ahead.
Eva Gombos, MD: Intraoperative Supine Breast MRI in the Advanced Multimodality Image Guided Operating (AMIGO) suite

Eva Gombos, MD
Staff Radiologist
Department of Radiology
Director of Breast Imaging Research
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Assistant Professor of Radiology
Harvard Medical School
About 15–30% of patients undergoing breast-conserving surgery (BCS) have positive margins, requiring re-excision to achieve clear margins. While pre-operative breast MRI is highly sensitive in assessing cancer extent, its effectiveness in reducing positive margins is not proven. One possible reason is the difference in breast shape and relative tumor location between the prone diagnostic MRI position and the supine surgical position.
In Phase 1, we developed an intraoperative supine MRI (isMRI) protocol in the AMIGO suite at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and demonstrated its feasibility during breast-conserving surgery (BCS). In a 15-patient study, isMRI was safe, sterile, and high-quality, revealing significant tumor deformation and position change between prone and supine positions. No residual tumors were detected post-surgery.
In Phase 2, a 43-patient study showed that isMRI had 80% accuracy and 93% specificity in detecting residual tumors at margins, reducing re-excision rates from 18% to 13%.
These results support isMRI’s potential to assess tumor location and deformation and guide real-time surgical decisions, improving outcomes and reducing repeat surgeries.
Dr. Eva Gombos is a board-certified Diagnostic Radiologist at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Mass General Brigham) and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute; and Assistant Professor of Radiology, Harvard Medical School.
Born in Hungary, she earned her MD from Semmelweis University in Budapest. She completed her residency in Diagnostic Radiology at the Kaplan Medical Center in Israel (1995), where she also subspecialized in Breast Imaging and served as Acting Section Head of Breast Imaging (1997-1998). She completed a Breast Imaging fellowship (1999-2000) and a residency/fellowship in Surgical Pathology (2000-2004) at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami, FL. In 2004, she joined the Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s Breast Imaging Section, where she has been the Director of Breast Imaging Research since 2007.
She received an AUR GE Radiology Research Academic Fellowship (2008-2010) to study breast MRI, its diagnostic use and interrelation with other diagnostic specialties, particularly anatomic and molecular pathology. Her research interests focus on breast cancer imaging, particularly breast MRI, response assessment and radiology-pathology correlation.
Jenna Mueller, PhD : Improving Cancer Management in Low and Middle-Income Countries through Human-Centered Biomedical Device Design
Jenna Mueller, PhD Assistant Professor Fischell Department of Bioengineering University of Maryland Abstract Worldwide cancer deaths are project to increase 50% in the next 20 years. Over 70% of cancer-related deaths occur in low and…
Rayan Ebnali Harari, PhD: Applications of CNNs in MRI and OCT Imaging: Case Studies and Emerging Topics in Medical Image Analysis
Rayan Ebnali Harari, PhD Instructor in Emergency Medicine Mass General Brigham Harvard Medical School Abstract This talk will cover my work on using computer vision and convolutional neural networks (CNN) for analyzing MRI in knee…
Guigen Liu, PhD: Bendable Graded Index Lens Multimodal Microendoscopy: Advancing in-situ Histopathology
Guigen Liu, PhD Instructor in Radiology Brigham and Women’s Hospital Harvard Medical School Abstract For over a century, biopsy and histopathological imaging of biopsied tissues stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) have been routinely employed…
Valeria Barletta, MD, PhD: An Overview of Biomarkers in Multiple Sclerosis
Valeria Barletta, MD, PhD Research Fellow in Radiology Brigham and Women’s Hospital Harvard Medical School Abstract The clinical and investigational approach to multiple sclerosis has gone through major changes over the past decades. This presentation…
Pietro Nardelli, PhD: From Macrovascular Changes to Microvascular Defects: Advances in Imaging-based Approaches for Pulmonary Hypertension
Pietro Nardelli, PhD Instructor in Radiology Brigham and Women’s Hospital Harvard Medical School Abstract Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a complex condition frequently arising as a complication of common diseases such as COPD, heart failure, and…
Peter S. LaViolette, PhD: Radio-pathomic Mapping of Brain and Prostate Cancer
Peter S. LaViolette, PhD Robert C. Olson, MD Endowed Professor of Radiology Director, Radiology Quantitative Imaging Laboratory Professor of Radiology, Biophysics, and Biomedical Engineering Medical College of Wisconsin Abstract Radio-pathomics, the integration of radiological imaging…
Seung-Schik Yoo, PhD: Non-Pharmacological Enhancement of Convective Clearance of Intracortical Solutes Using Transcranial Focused Ultrasound
SEUNG-SCHIK YOO, PHD Director, Neuromodulation and Tissue Engineering Laboratory (NTEL) Brigham and Women's Hospital Associate Professor of Radiology Harvard Medical School Abstract Brain lymphatic clearance of undesirable metabolic waste is important for normal brain function,…
CIPRIAN CATANA, MD, PHD: JOURNEY TO INTEGRATION: FROM ADVANCES IN ORGAN-SPECIFIC PET/MR IMAGING TO STUDYING INTERCONNECTED SYSTEMS.
Ciprian Catana, MD, PHD Director of Integrated PET/MR Imaging Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging Department of Radiology Massachusetts General Hospital Professor of Radiology Harvard Medical School Abstract The integration of positron emission tomography…
Florian J. Fintelmann, MD: Interdisciplinary Research in Thoracic Imaging and Intervention: Opportunities across MGB
Florian J. Fintelmann, MD Associate Professor of Radiology Harvard Medical School Abstract Short Bio Dr. Florian J. Fintelmann is a physician-scientist in the Department of Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston, MA, and…
JEREMY WOLFE, PHD: SEEING MORE THAN WE THINK WE SEE. MISSING MORE THAN WE WANT TO MISS.
Jeremy Wolfe, PhD Professor of Ophthalmology and Radiology Harvard Medical School Abstract Your powers of vision and visual cognition are quite amazing. For example, an expert can look at a mammogram for a quarter of…
Fides Schwartz, MD: Photon-counting CT – What is it and what do we do with it?
Fides Schwartz, MD Research Associate in Radiology Harvard Medical School Lead Investigator Center of Advanced CT Translation and Innovation (CACTI) Brigham and Women’s Hospital Abstract Photon-counting Computed Tomography (PCCT) has emerged as a transformative technology…
SHARATH BHAGAVATULA, MD: TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH IN INTERVENTIONAL RADIOLOGY: EARLY EXPERIENCE IN TRANSLATING AN IMPLANTABLE MICRODEVICE TECHNOLOGY FOR PERSONALIZED DRUG RESPONSE ASSESSMENT
Sharath Bhagavatula, MD Assistant Professor of Radiology Abdominal Imaging and Intervention Brigham and Women’s Hospital Harvard Medical School Abstract Novel image-guided interventional methods have the potential to significantly improve cancer diagnosis and treatment, but the…