Larry Wald Elected as a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors


Martinos News

Larry Wald, director of the Magnetic Resonance Physics & Instrumentation Group at the MGH Martinos Center, will join the ranks of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).

The honor recognizes the groundbreaking work Wald has done in the field of magnetic resonance imaging, especially the instrumental role he played in the commercialization of parallel transmit technology for MRI and, more broadly, high-field MRI for clinical use. Through the clinical implementation of the MRI technologies he has developed, Wald has impacted – indeed, helped to save – the lives of millions of people who have relied on scans using the advances. By increasing the speed of the scans and reducing artifacts, the technologies allow clinicians to image more targeted regions during the scans. Even more recently, Wald’s work with low-cost ultra-low-field MRI could extend such benefits to the countless people across the planet who currently have no access to MRI technology.

The NAI Fellows Induction Ceremony will be held on April 10, 2020, at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Ariz. Laura A. Peter, Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, will provide the keynote address for the ceremony.