WSU researcher awarded prestigious Charles W. Haynes Fellowship from the North American Brain Injury Society

The North American Brain Injury Society has awarded its prestigious Charles W. Haynes Fellowship to a Wayne State University School of Medicine researcher.

Zhifeng Kou, Ph.D., assistant professor of Biomedical Engineering and Radiology, received the honor, which recognizes promising new professionals who best promote the society's mission of advancing brain injury research and treatment.

"I would like to say that this is a recognition of our team effort and our traumatic brain injury program at Wayne State University," said Dr. Kou, also a faculty member of the WSU MR Research Facility. "I sincerely thank my colleagues' support from the magnetic resonance imaging center, the research team in emergency medicine, the brain injury research team in biomedical engineering and the research team in the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan, particularly our students, post-docs and staff members who have always been working behind the scene to help our projects. They are real heroes. I am fortunate to be a representative of our team to receive this award. I hope this is just a beginning, and more and more members from our team will receive various awards in this field."

In particular, Dr. Kou said, he owes thanks to Mark Haacke, Ph.D., director of the MR Research Facility and professor of Radiology, for his "continuous and unselfish support and mentorship." He also thanked Albert King, Ph.D., professor and Chair of Biomedical Engineering, and Wilbur Smith Jr., M.D., Chair of Radiology. "No achievement is possible without the strong support of our collaborators, including Drs. Robert Welch from Emergency Medicine, Randall Benson from Neurology, John Woodard from Psychology, John Cavanaugh from Biomedical Engineering, and Scott Millis and Robin Hanks from the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan."

The award is based upon the scientific merit of the research and the applicant's achievement. In previous years, the society received more than 50 applicants annually. Only a single fellowship is awarded each year. It will be formally recognized to the full body of the conference. The fellowship includes a $1,025 cash award, waiver of the NABIS conference fee and a plenary presentation of the recipient's research. Dr. Kou's research centers on advanced neuro-imaging of traumatic brain injury. He uses advanced MRI techniques, including susceptibility weighted imaging, diffusion and perfusion imaging, MR spectroscopy and functional imaging to improve the detection and outcome prediction of brain injury.