Regents Professor
Radiology, Medical School, 2026
Kamil Uğurbil is a McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair Professor and the current and founding director of the Center for Magnetic Resonance Research (CMRR) in the Medical School at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. A pioneering scientist and visionary leader, he has spent over four decades at the University establishing it as the world's preeminent center for magnetic resonance research.
Scholarly and Creative Achievement
Professor Uğurbil is internationally renowned as a principal architect of modern functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a global pioneer of ultrahigh-field (UHF) human MRI. His most consequential scholarly achievements include the co-discovery of fMRI and experimental validation of the Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) signal as the fundamental mechanism underlying fMRI. In the early 1990s, his laboratory first demonstrated that this effect could be used to noninvasively map functional activity in the living human brain.
Further pushing the boundaries of the field, he led the University to become the first institution to generate human images at 4 Tesla, 7 Tesla, and 10.5 Tesla. These breakthroughs enabled researchers to map the human brain at a mesoscopic scale, visualizing individual cortical columns and layers for the first time. His prolific research output includes more than 580 peer-reviewed publications and a current h-index of 157. His excellence has been recognized through election to the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Inventors, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Teaching and Advising
As an exceptional mentor, Professor Uğurbil has trained over 40 students, fellows, and research associates who now hold leadership positions at major universities and research institutes worldwide. His mentoring philosophy emphasizes independent thinking and encourages trainees to pursue ambitious, high-risk scientific problems. At the University, he fostered a unique interdisciplinary training environment at the CMRR, where students from medicine, physics, engineering, and neuroscience collaborate productively. His impact is multiplied through his former trainees, many of whom have become directors of imaging centers or received prestigious international awards like the ISMRM Gold Medal.
Professional Service
Professor Uğurbil’s service has elevated the University’s global standing. He initiated the biennial Minnesota Workshop on Ultrahigh Field Imaging, which is recognized as the premier international event in the field. Nationally, he served on the working group that designed the strategic plan of the U.S. BRAIN Initiative and was a co-principal investigator for the NIH Human Connectome Project. He also provides expert advice to international agencies, including the European Research Council and various scientific advisory boards across Europe and Asia.