We are thrilled to announce the publication of 20+20 Vision: 40 Years on the Cutting Edge of Science and Care, a Martinos Center coffee table book.

In 1980, a scrappy group of researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital banded together to explore the potential of a recently introduced technology: magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Initially comprised of only a handful of doctors, bench scientists and other adventurous souls working in a shadowy subbasement of the hospital, the group quickly grew in both number and influence — for example, by introducing the groundbreaking neuroimaging technology known as functional MRI.

In 2000, Greek shipping magnate Thanassis Martinos and his wife Marina extended a gift of $20 million to fund a biomedical imaging research facility named in honor of the memory of their daughter, Athinoula A. Martinos. The gift would enable an important expansion of the Center. In the years since, it has facilitated countless new breakthroughs and launched the careers of a generation of new scientists.

Today, the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging is one of world’s premier research centers devoted to development and application of advanced biomedical imaging technologies.

Here’s a simple bit of math: 20 years as the MGH-NMR Center + 20 years as the Martinos Center = 40 years on the cutting edge of science and care. 20+20 Vision tells the story of this amazing research venture across its four decades of existence, from its origins in the early 1980s to the many ways it rose to meet the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. The book spotlights the science, the technology and, most importantly, the people behind the Center’s innumerable successes, and collects more than 150 images illustrating its long, eventful history.

20+20 Vision is available as a full-color hardcover book (please note, the entire purchase price goes toward the cost of on-demand printing; the book is a nonprofit venture) or as a free digital publication. Follow the links here or in the sidebar to learn more.

Also, check out the book trailer we’ve put together. And feel free to share it!