David C. Zhu, Ph.D.

Dr. David Zhu is an MRI physicist/engineer and a neuroscientist. His lab applies multi-modal neuroimaging approaches to understand how the brain changes. As the Interim Director of the Gruss Magnetic Resonance Research Center (MRRC), Dr. Zhu oversees MRRC’s important missions of research support, collaboration, and education.

Dr. Zhu earned his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering in 1999 from the University of California, Davis, where he focused his research in the development of MRI acquisition and analysis techniques to understand brain activity, evaluate cardiovascular flow and detect breast cancer. He then joined GE Healthcare as an MRI development engineer. Three years later, he returned to academia as an MRI physicist at the Brain Research Imaging Center at the University of Chicago. He was subsequently recruited to Michigan State University in 2005 as an assistant professor and an MRI physicist to support the development of its fMRI research program. This program evolved into the Cognitive Imaging Research Center, which Dr. Zhu led for 17 years, during which time he was promoted to Professor of Radiology, Psychology, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Biomedical Engineering. In 2024, Dr. Zhu was recruited to Einstein as Professor of Radiology and Associate Director of the MRRC. He was then named the Interim Director of the MRRC in 2025.

Dr. Zhu has authored more than 115 peer-reviewed journal publications and has led the imaging components of multiple NIH-funded clinical studies focused on aging, Alzheimer’s disease, and traumatic brain injury. In 2025, he received the Distinguished Investigator Award from the Academy for Radiology and Biomedical Imaging Research.

1. Scheel N, Tarumi T, Tomoto T, Cullum CM, Zhang R, Zhu DC. Resting-state functional MRI signal fluctuation amplitudes are correlated with brain amyloid-β deposition in patients with mild cognitive impairment. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2022 May;42(5):876-890.
2. Zhu DC, Majumdar S, Korolev IO, Berger KL, Bozoki AC. Alzheimer’s disease and amnestic mild cognitive impairment weaken connections within the default-mode network: a multi-modal imaging study. J Alzheimers Dis. 2013;34(4):969-84.
3. Zhu DC, Vu AT, Ota H, DeMarco JK. An optimized 3D spoiled gradient recalled echo pulse sequence for hemorrhage assessment using inversion recovery and multiple echoes (3DSHINE) for carotid plaque imaging. Magn Reson Med. 2010;64:1341-1351

Complete List of Published Work in My Bibliography:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/david.zhu.1/bibliography/public/