Diego Hernando PhD

Diego Hernando, PhD, has been an Associate Professor (tenure) in the Departments of Radiology and Medical Physics since 2016. He is originally from Valladolid, Spain, where he attended the Universidad de Valladolid, with a specific focus in Telecommunication Engineering. He moved to the United States and continued his studies, earning his Master’s degree in Computer Engineering at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH, and his PhD in Electrical Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign under the supervision of Prof. Zhi-Pei Liang. During this time, Dr. Hernando’s research was focused on magnetic resonance imaging of fat and water. For this work, Dr. Hernando was awarded in 2009 with the Isidor I. Rabi Award from the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) among other awards.
Dr. Hernando is the Director of quantitative body MRI in the Department of Radiology and leads an active NIH-funded research group devoted to the development and translational validation of quantitative imaging techniques. He is also the Secretary of the ISMRM Quantitative MR Study Group. His research interests include the development of imaging techniques for rapid and quantitative MRI, MRI physics, and translational imaging. Dr. Hernando is particularly interested in contributing to the transformation of MRI into a truly quantitative imaging modality. By measuring physically meaningful properties of tissue, his group aims to develop quantitative imaging biomarkers to improve the detection, staging and treatment monitoring of various diseases. Dr. Hernando works closely with the UW Liver Imaging Research Program (LIRP), in collaboration with Dr. Scott Reeder.
Dr. Hernando is also interested in enhancing UW-based collaborative research between imaging experts and machine learning experts. In cooperation with Profs. Po-Ling Loh and Varun Jog from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Alan McMillan from the Department of Radiology, and Kevin Johnson from the Department of Medical Physics, he co-organizes the Machine Learning for Medical Imaging (ML4MI) initiative. This initiative offered various activities held in 2018, including monthly seminars by interval and external speakers, a one-day workshop, and a pilot grant program.