Ravi Menon, PhD, honoured as a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences
Ravi Menon, PhD, has been recognized by his peers as a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS) at the CAHS 2015 Forum and Annual General Meeting in Ottawa on September 17, 2015.
The CAHS Fellowship recognizes Menon’s international leadership and significant contributions that have meaningfully advanced the academic health sciences. Founded in 2004, the CAHS provides timely, informed and unbiased assessments of urgent issues affecting the health of Canadians.
Menon’s philosophy – that solutions for basic and clinical problems should drive technological developments – has motivated this physics-trained researcher to bridge the gap between these disciplines with faculty and students.
Menon is a pioneer in the field of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and has contributed to the use of high-field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods in neurology and neuroscience for more than three decades. He has also demonstrated a strong commitment to further developing his field of research and knowledge translation – assisting other facilities with developing sophisticated MRI systems, educating future researchers across Canada and engaging high school students by showing them the opportunities available to them in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Among his many achievements, Menon’s observations provided the basis for the modern radiological interpretation of MRI in multiple sclerosis and the first demonstrations that fMRI can be used to image cortical columnar architecture in humans.
Working with neuroscientists at Western University and around the world, he has made numerous contributions to understanding brain function, with papers in journals such as Science, Nature, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Neuron and other high impact and specialist journals. Menon has more than 160 publications and 13,000 citations.
Menon credits the strength of his team and contributions of his mentors for reaching his personal goal of applying physics to the study of the brain and to impacting human health. “I am most proud of having put together a unique MRI research facility in Canada, and particularly having assembled a brilliant and loyal staff to keep it all together, giving me the opportunity to further research in this field, nationally and internationally,” said Menon. “Since I was a junior faculty member, I have had great advocates in top leadership positions who have given me the opportunity to shape the neuroscience agenda in Canada through advisory roles at Canadian Health Research Institute and at various federal and provincial levels.”
Menon is a professor, Medical Biophysics, and director of the Centre for Functional and Metabolic Mapping at Robarts Research Institute and Canada Research Chair in Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging.
