Nir Lipsman, MD, PhD, FRCSC

Chairman
Dr. Lipsman is Director of the Harquail Centre for Neuromodulation, where he holds the Harquail Endowed Chair, and Clinical Director of the Focused Ultrasound Centre of Excellence at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. He is the Dan Family Chair of Neurosurgery at the University of Toronto, where he has led first-in-human trials using MR-guided focused ultrasound to treat movement, psychiatric, and neurodegenerative disorders.

Jin Woo Chang, MD, PhD 

A pioneer in stereotactic and functional neurosurgery, Dr. Chang leads clinical research at Korea University Anam Hospital in Seoul. His work with focused ultrasound spans thermal lesioning for movement and psychiatric disorders and includes first-in-human trials of ultrasound-mediated blood-brain barrier opening in Alzheimer’s disease. He has helped establish patient-selection criteria for focused ultrasound and held leadership roles in multiple neurosurgical and therapeutic-ultrasound societies.

Sébastien Crouzet, MD, PhD

With more than a decade of expertise in urologic oncology and minimally invasive surgery, Dr. Crouzet serves as Professor of Urology at Hospices Civils de Lyon and the Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 in France. His research has focused heavily on focal therapies for prostate cancer, including landmark outcome studies of high-intensity focused ultrasound in more than 800 patients. He is also affiliated with INSERM Unit 1032 (Therapeutic Applications of Ultrasound).

Wladyslaw Gedroyc, MBBS, MRCP, FRCR

A consultant radiologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and long-time champion of focused ultrasound, Prof. Gedroyc has treated hundreds of patients using MR-guided approaches for fibroids, liver, bone and brain applications. His research has driven non-invasive treatments from concept to clinical practice, including first-in-human work in movement disorders and drug-activation therapies. He earned the Foundation’s 2024 Clinical Adoption Award for his leadership in translating focused ultrasound into mainstream care.

Pejman Ghanouni, MD, PhD

A Professor of Radiology at Stanford University School of Medicine, Dr. Ghanouni also holds courtesy appointments in Neurosurgery, Urology, and Obstetrics & Gynecology. As Director of the Minimally Invasive MR Interventional Center and Stanford’s Focused Ultrasound Center of Excellence, his work advances MR-guided focused ultrasound applications for essential tremor, prostate cancer, bone metastases, uterine fibroids, and soft tissue tumors. He has led key clinical trials contributing to multiple FDA approvals.

Catherine Gilmore, MBA

Ms. Gilmore has more than 30 years of experience in healthcare innovation. Most recently Vice President and General Manager of Academics at GE HealthCare, she led strategic partnerships with teaching institutions. She has also held senior leadership roles at Elekta, where she co-founded and chaired the Leksell Gamma Knife Society to advance noninvasive radiosurgical treatments. She currently serves as the Public Member of the ACGME Neurological Surgery Review Committee.

Kullervo Hynynen, PhD

A leader in image-guided therapy and biomedical engineering, Dr. Hynynen directs research at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre focused on advancing MRI-guided focused ultrasound technologies. His work spans noninvasive brain therapy, tumor ablation, targeted drug delivery, and device development through extensive interdisciplinary and industry collaborations.

Suzanne Leblang, MD

As a neuroradiologist with nearly three decades of focused ultrasound practice, Dr. Leblang builds collaborations among researchers, clinicians, and manufacturers on behalf of the Focused Ultrasound Foundation. She helps expand awareness of the field through presentations, publications, and outreach at scientific meetings.

Clare M. Tempany, MD

A global leader in image-guided therapy, Dr. Tempany is the Ferenc A. Jolesz Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School and Vice Chair for Radiology Research at Brigham & Women’s Hospital. She has been instrumental in advancing clinical applications of MR-guided focused ultrasound for uterine fibroids, bone metastases, and prostate cancer, leading major multicenter trials.

Joan Vidal-Jove, MD, PhD

As Director of the Comprehensive Tumour Center in Barcelona, Dr. Vidal-Jové has pioneered the clinical application of focused ultrasound in complex oncologic cases, notably pancreatic and liver tumours. His team has treated over 200 patients using ultrasound ablation techniques and is exploring immunomodulatory and microbubble-enhanced therapies. He is also Consultant for HistoSonics in International Medical Affairs, where he is leading the studies in pancreatic tumors. 

Zhen Xu, PhD

Dr. Xu is the Li Ka Shing Endowed Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Professor of Radiology and Neurosurgery at the University of Michigan. Her research centers on treating cancer, cardiovascular, and neurological diseases. She co-invented histotripsy, and her work led to multiple clinical trials and FDA approval of histotripsy for liver tumors. She has been elected as Fellow of National Academy of Inventors (NAI), American Institute of Medicine and Bioengineering (AIMBE), and IEEE. She is a co-founder of HistoSonics.

Lian Zhang, MD

A pioneer in high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), Dr. Zhang directs Chongqing Haifu Hospital in China—an institution that has performed thousands of focused ultrasound ablation treatments and serves as a global training center. His research and clinical work span gynecologic, hepatic, breast, and bone tumor applications of therapeutic ultrasound, and he helped lead early HIFU system development.