HYBRID is an excellent and open-minded network for our Early Stage Researchers offering excellent development opportunities in the exciting field of hybrid imaging techniques
Volkmar Schulz, PhD
Volkmar Schulz, Ph.D., is professor and head of the Department of Physics of Molecular Imaging Systems at the Institute for Experimental Molecular Imaging at RWTH Aachen University, Germany. He studied electrical engineering and received his Ph.D. in 2001 from the University of Paderborn in the field of integrated optics. In the year 2000, he joined the Philips Research Laboratories in Hamburg where he started his research carrier in the field of MRI physics and instrumentation. During this time, he contributed to various system developments, in particular to open magnet designs that allowed interventional MRI. In 2005, he moved to the Philips Research Laboratories in Aachen, where he focused his research on the combination of PET with MRI. His research interests cover PET and MRI physics, the combination of PET and MRI into a hybrid imaging modality, modality interference, system prototyping, and quantitative correction techniques. In 2013, he was appointed as full professor at RWTH Aachen University at the faculties of medicine and physics.
In the past 10 years, Volkmar received several EU grants. In 2008, he coordinated the EU-FP7 project HYPERImage, initiated and executed the EU-FP7 project SUBLIMA and recently received funding for his EU-H2020 project HYPMED, which translates the developed technology of the preclinical systems into a dedicated clinical PET-MRI system for breast cancer application. He successfully applied for local grants (DFG, ForSaTum, NRW, Germany; WellComeTrust, London, UK), that allowed the development of the world's first simultaneous PET-MRI system for preclinical applications based on digital silicon photomultiplier technology. Jointly with the research center in Juelich, he is currently using the RWTH detector platform to build a Neuro-PET-MRI insert for 7 Tesla. Together with Philips and the University of Utrecht, he is developing a whole-body PET-MRI, which is intended to be used as a planning tool for radiotherapy (MR-LINAC). Volkmar is co-author of more than 60 patent applications and more than 100 papers.