Dennis L. Parker

Dennis L. Parker, PhD

Languages spoken: German, English, French

Academic Information

Departments Primary - Radiology & Imaging Sciences , Primary - Biomedical Informatics

Academic Office Information

dennis.parker@hsc.utah.edu

Lab

Dr. Dennis Parker earned his MS in Physics from Brigham Young University and his PhD in Medical Biophysics and Computing from the University of Utah. He is the Mark H. Huntsman endowed Professor, in the Departments of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, and Biomedical Informatics. He served as the founding Director of the Utah Center for Advanced Imaging Research from 2003 to 2016. Dr. Parker is also an investigator of the Huntsman Cancer Institute and a member of the Experimental Therapeutics Program.


With more than 40 years of experience in medical imaging research and image guided therapies, Dr. Parker has published extensively in his areas of expertise. These areas include: physics and mathematics of medical imaging, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Magnetic Resonance Angiography (MRA), and MR guided High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (MRgHIFU) in breast and pancreatic cancer, as well as general cancer magnetic resonance imaging. He published the first paper on using MRI to measure temperature with the intent of guiding thermal therapy of cancer and has been one of the principal faculty in developing the University of Utah's program in MRgHIFU for thermal therapy applications.

Prior to joining the University of Utah in 1982 as an assistant professor, Dr. Parker was an assistant professor at the University of California at San Francisco. In 2000, he received the Distinguished Research Award from University of Utah and prior to this was appointed President of the Magnetic Resonance Angiography Club (1998). He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biomedical Engineers (2008) and of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (2015).

“After earning my BS in Physics, I read the book The Double Helix and realized that physics could be used in medical/biological research. During my PhD, I became interested in the great potential of computers and how they could be used, in combination with physics, to develop new methods of medical imaging. I found it very fulfilling to be able to use physics and computer science to develop technology that could see things in the body that have never been seen before. This has kept me on a challenging but fascinating journey, developing an educational/research program in medical imaging research.”

Google Scholar: http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=9_0odKsAAAAJ&hl=en

Research Statement

I have spent my career using physical and engineering principles to develop and improve methods to visualize within the human body. In addition to working with MRI to make images of blood vessels in the neck and brain, I have been interesting in developing the ability of MRI to make images of temperature distributions within the body. Initially we have used this to guide thermal therapies. Until recently, all of these methods were only able to measure temperature change but could not measure the actual temperature. Most recently I have become interested in the problem of measuring true (actual) temperature within the brain and other.body parts. That work is ongoing and has kept me involved at the UofU for many decades.

Education History

Undergraduate Brigham Young University
 BS
Graduate Training Brigham Young University
 MS
Doctoral Training University of Utah
 PhD

Selected Publications

Journal Article

  1. de Havenon A, Muhina HJ, Parker DL, McNally JS, Alexander M (2019). Effect of Time Elapsed since Gadolinium Administration on Atherosclerotic Plaque Enhancement in Clinical Vessel Wall MR Imaging Studies. AJNR. American journal of neuroradiology, 40(10), 1709-1711.
  2. Underhill HR, Yuan C, Zhao XQ, Kraiss LW, Parker DL, Saam T, Chu B, Takaya N, Liu F, Polissar NL, Neradilek B, Raichlen JS, Cain VA, Waterton JC, Hamar W, Hatsukami T (2008). Effect of rosuvastatin therapy on carotid plaque morphology and composition in moderately hypercholesterolemic patients: a high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging trial. American heart journal, 155(3), 584.e1-8.
  3. Kim SE, Parker DL, Roberts JA, Treiman GS, Alexander M, Baradaran H, de Havenon A, McNally J (2021). Differentiation of symptomatic and asymptomatic carotid intraplaque hemorrhage using 3D high-resolution diffusion-weighted stack of stars imaging. NMR in biomedicine, 34(11), e4582.
  4. Iversen MM, Christensen DA, Parker DL, Holman HA, Chen J, Frerck MJ, Rabbitt R (2017). Low-intensity ultrasound activates vestibular otolith organs through acoustic radiation force. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 141(6), 4209.
  5. Hofstetter LW, Fausett L, Mueller A, Odéen H, Payne A, Christensen DA, Parker D (2020). Development and characterization of a tissue mimicking psyllium husk gelatin phantom for ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging. International journal of hyperthermia, 37(1), 283-290.
  6. Svedin BT, Parker D (2017). Technical Note: The effect of 2D excitation profile on T1 measurement accuracy using the variable flip angle method with an average flip angle assumption. Medical physics, 44(11), 5930-5937.
  7. Hadley JR, Odéen H, Merrill R, Adams SI, Rieke V, Payne A, Parker D (2021). Improving image quality in transcranial magnetic resonance guided focused ultrasound using a conductive screen. Magnetic resonance imaging, 83, 41-49.
  8. Diakite M, Payne A, Todd N, Parker D (2013). Irreversible change in the T1 temperature dependence with thermal dose using the proton resonance frequency-T1 technique. Magnetic resonance in medicine, 69(4), 1122-30.
  9. Mendes J, Parker DL, Kim SE, Treiman G (2013). Reduced blood flow artifact in intraplaque hemorrhage imaging using CineMPRAGE. Magnetic resonance in medicine, 69(5), 1276-84.
  10. Volland NA, Kholmovski EG, Parker DL, Hadley J (2013). Initial feasibility testing of limited field of view magnetic resonance thermometry using a local cardiac radiofrequency coil. Magnetic resonance in medicine, 70(4), 994-1004.
  11. Svedin BT, Payne A, Bolster BD Jr, Parker D (2018). Multiecho pseudo-golden angle stack of stars thermometry with high spatial and temporal resolution using k-space weighted image contrast. Magnetic resonance in medicine, 79(3), 1407-1419.
  12. de Bever JT, Odéen H, Hofstetter LW, Parker D (2018). Simultaneous MR thermometry and acoustic radiation force imaging using interleaved acquisition. Magnetic resonance in medicine, 79(3), 1515-1524.
  13. Wang Y, Morrell G, Heibrun ME, Payne A, Parker D (2013). 3D multi-parametric breast MRI segmentation using hierarchical support vector machine with coil sensitivity correction. Academic radiology, 20(2), 137-47.
  14. Baradaran H, Eisenmenger LB, Hinckley PJ, de Havenon AH, Stoddard GJ, Treiman LS, Treiman GS, Parker DL, Scott McNally (2021). Optimal Carotid Plaque Features on Computed Tomography Angiography Associated With Ischemic Stroke. Journal of the American Heart Association, 10(5), e019462.
  15. McNally JS, Jaffey JA, Kim SE, Alexander MD, Shumway KL, Cohn LA, Parker DL, Day R (2019). Methemoglobin Modulation as an Intravascular Contrast Agent for Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Proof of Concept. Frontiers in veterinary science, 6, 416.
  16. Kim SE, McNally JS, Alexander MD, Zabriskie MS, Parker DL, Day R (2023). Evaluation of methemoglobin as an intravascular contrast agent: T1 relaxation time effect in a rabbit model. Magnetic resonance imaging, 103, 1-7.
  17. Odéen H, Hofstetter LW, Payne AH, Guiraud L, Dumont E, Parker D (2023). Simultaneous proton resonance frequency T(1) - MR shear wave elastography for MR-guided focused ultrasound multiparametric treatment monitoring. Magnetic resonance in medicine, 89(6), 2171-2185.
  18. Baradaran H, Culleton S, Stoddard G, Alexander MD, Romero JR, Hadley JR, Kim SE, Parker DL, McNally J (2023). Association between high-risk extracranial carotid plaque and covert brain infarctions and cerebral microbleeds. Neuroradiology, 65(2), 287-295.
  19. Malmberg MA, Odéen H, Parker D (2022). Effects of T(2) * on accuracy and precision of dynamic T(1) measurements using the single reference variable flip angle method: a simulation study. Medical physics, 49(4), 2396-2412.
  20. Hofstetter LW, Hadley R, Merrill R, Pham H, Fine GC, Parker D (2022). MRI-compatible electromagnetic servomotor for image-guided medical robotics. Communications engineering, 1,
  21. Hensen B, Hellms S, Werlein C, Jonigk D, Gronski PA, Bruesch I, Rumpel R, Wittauer EM, Vondran FWR, Parker DL, Wacker F, Gutberlet (2022). Correction of heat-induced susceptibility changes in respiratory-triggered 2D-PRF-based thermometry for monitoring of magnetic resonance-guided hepatic microwave ablation in a human-like in vivo porcine model. International journal of hyperthermia, 39(1), 1387-1396.
  22. McLean M, Parker DL, Odéen H, Payne (2021). A T1-based correction method for proton resonance frequency shift thermometry in breast tissue. Medical physics, 48(9), 4719-4729.
  23. McNally JS, Havenon A, Kim SE, Wang C, Wang S, Zabriskie MS, Parker DL, Baradaran H, Alexander M (2021). Rabbit models of intracranial atherosclerotic disease for pathological validation of vessel wall MRI. The neuroradiology journal, 34(3), 193-199.
  24. Hofstetter LW, Odéen H, Bolster BD Jr, Christensen DA, Payne A, Parker D (2021). Magnetic resonance shear wave elastography using transient acoustic radiation force excitations and sinusoidal displacement encoding. Physics in medicine and biology, 66(5),
  25. Beck MJ, Parker DL, Hadley J (2021). Quasistatic Solutions versus Full-Wave Solutions of Single-Channel Circular RF Receive Coils on Phantoms of Varying Conductivities at 3 Tesla. Concepts in magnetic resonance. Part B, Magnetic resonance engineering, 2021,
  26. Beck MJ, Parker DL, Hadley J (2020). Capacitive versus Overlap Decoupling of Adjacent Radio Frequency Phased Array Coil Elements: An Imaging Robustness Comparison When Sample Load Varies for 3 Tesla MRI. Concepts in magnetic resonance. Part B, Magnetic resonance engineering, 2020,
  27. Payne A, Minalga E, Merrill R, Parker DL, Hadley J (2020). Technical Note: Effect of transducer position and ground plane configuration on image quality in MR-guided focused ultrasound therapies. Medical physics, 47(6), 2350-2355.
  28. Slominski E, Marchant J, Judd W, Alexander MD, Rolston JD, Odéen H, Rieke V, Christensen DA, Parker D (2023). Influence of cerebrospinal fluid on power absorption during transcranial magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound treatment. Medical physics, 50(6), 3245-3257.
  29. Adams-Tew SI, Johnson S, Odéen H, Parker DL, Payne (2023). Validation of a drift-corrected 3D MR temperature imaging sequence for breast MR-guided focused ultrasound treatments. Magnetic resonance imaging, 96, 126-134.
  30. Parker DL, Payne A, Odéen (2022). A k-space-based method to measure and correct for temporal B(0) field variations in MR temperature imaging. Magnetic resonance in medicine, 88(3), 1098-1111.
  31. Baradaran H, Delic A, McNally JS, Alexander M, Majersik JJ, Parker DL, de Havenon (2021). Carotid Compliance and Parahippocampal and Hippocampal Volume over a 20-Year Period. Dementia and geriatric cognitive disorders extra, 11(3), 227-234.
  32. Richards N, Malmberg M, Odéen H, Johnson S, Kline M, Merrill R, Hadley R, Parker DL, Payne (2025). In vivo simultaneous proton resonance frequency shift thermometry and single reference variable flip angle T(1) measurements. Magnetic resonance in medicine,
  33. Adams-Tew SI, Odéen H, Parker DL, Cheng CC, Madore B, Payne A, Joshi (2024). Physics Informed Neural Networks for Estimation of Tissue Properties from Multi-echo Configuration State MRI. 15011, 502-511.
  34. Malmberg MA, Odéen H, Hofstetter LW, Hadley JR, Parker D (2024). Validation of single reference variable flip angle (SR-VFA) dynamic T(1) mapping with T(2) * correction using a novel rotating phantom. Magnetic resonance in medicine, 91(4), 1419-1433.
  35. Cornelssen C, Payne A, Parker DL, Alexander M, Merrill R, Senthilkumar S, Christensen J, Wilcox KS, Odéen H, Rolston J (2024). Development of an MR-Guided Focused Ultrasound (MRgFUS) Lesioning Approach for the Fornix in the Rat Brain. Ultrasound in medicine & biology, 50(6), 920-926.
  36. Odéen H, Shah LM, Rieke V, Parker DL, Rahimpour (2024). MR-Guided Focused Ultrasound Thalamotomy in the Setting of Aneurysm Clip. AJNR. American journal of neuroradiology, 45(3), 302-304.
  37. Marchant JK, Clinard SR, Odéen H, Parker DL, Christensen D (2023). The influence of bone model geometries on the determination of skull acoustic properties. International journal for numerical methods in biomedical engineering, 39(12), e3779.
  38. Zeng L, Hsu YC, Wang L, Lu M, Keushkerian M, Nguyen KL, Johnson KJ, Altbach MI, Morris HD, DeMarco JK, Deshpande V, Mitsouras D, Saloner D, McNally JS, Kim SE, Roberts JA, Hadley JR, Parker DL, Treiman GS, Li D, Xie (2025). Deep Learning-Based Denoising for High-Resolution Carotid Vessel Wall MRI Using Standard Neurovascular Coils. Magnetic resonance in medicine,
  39. Hsu YC, Lu M, Llanes A, Keushkerian MJ, Nguyen KL, Johnson K, Altbach MI, Morris HD, DeMarco JK, Deshpande V, Mitsouras D, Saloner D, McNally S, Kim SE, Roberts J, Hadley R, Treiman GS, Parker DL, Li D, Xie (2025). Optimization of Image Quality for Quantitative Multi-Contrast Atherosclerosis Characterization (qMATCH): Comparison Between Transverse and Coronal Acquisitions. AJNR. American journal of neuroradiology,
  40. Kim SE, Roberts JA, Hadley JR, McNally JS, Treiman GS, Xie Y, Li D, Nguyen KL, Mitsouras D, Schollenberger J, Saloner D, Pugazhendhi A, Johnson KJ, Altbach M, Morris H, DeMarco K, Deshpande V, Itriago-Leon P, Parker D (2025). Optimizing MPRAGE for enhanced blood suppression and intraplaque hemorrhage detection in carotid artery imaging. Magnetic resonance imaging, 124, 110531.
  41. Malmberg M, Kim SE, Roberts J, Shah L, Parker DL, Odéen (2025). 3D MR Thermometry Using Bi-Directional Segmented EPI for Transcranial-Focused Ultrasound. Magnetic resonance in medicine,
  42. Clinard S, Webb T, Odéen H, Parker DL, Christensen D (2025). The speed of sound in skull-mimicking digital phantoms depends on the microstructure. Physics in medicine and biology, 70(22),
  43. Clinard S, Webb T, Odéen H, Parker DL, Christensen D (2025). Influence of bone microstructure on ultrasound loss through skull-mimicking digital phantoms. Medical physics, 52(11), e70113.
  44. Malmberg MA, Odéen H, Kim SE, Parker D (2025). The effect of concomitant gradient fields on MRI with long readout radial-based trajectories. Magnetic resonance in medicine, 94(3), 949-964.
  45. Clinard S, Webb T, Odéen H, Parker DL, Christensen D (2025). Influence of bone microstructure on ultrasound loss through skull-mimicking digital phantoms. ArXiv,
  46. Judd W, Kim SE, Dzikiy J, Parker DL, Odéen (2025). Flexible, high spatial and temporal resolution absolute thermometry of MRI phantoms using ethylene glycol. Magnetic resonance in medicine, 94(2), 470-479.
  47. Akcicek EY, Hashemizadeh K, Akcicek H, Kim SE, Hadley JR, Roberts J, Wang X, Guo Y, Balu N, McNally JS, Parker DL, Yuan C, Ma (2025). Qualitative and quantitative reproducibility of 3D MERGE and SNAP sequences for carotid vessel wall imaging across Siemens and Philips 3T scanners. Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery, 15(4), 3111-3122.

Review

  1. Odéen H, Payne AH, Parker D (2025). Magnetic Resonance Acoustic Radiation Force Imaging (MR-ARFI). Journal of magnetic resonance imaging, 62(1), 20-39.