Steven Sourbron

Professor Steven Sourbron is a leading academic in Medical Imaging Physics at the School of Medicine and Population Health, University of Sheffield. He holds a professorship focused on quantitative MRI and imaging biomarkers, with prior roles at the University of Leeds and Ludwig-Maximilian University Munich. His research is highly interdisciplinary, bridging physics, engineering, computation, and clinical medicine.

Education:

• PhD in Radiology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (2005)
• Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (1999)

His research interests center on the development and clinical translation of quantitative imaging biomarkers (QIBs) in liver and kidney diseases, cardiovascular imaging, and neurodegenerative conditions. These biomarkers enable in-vivo, non-invasive assessment of organ function, with applications in drug development and personalized medicine. Current focus areas include liver surgery planning, chronic kidney disease progression, and stroke outcomes.

His recent publications reveal a strong trend toward multi-center validation, standardization, and open science in MRI. Key themes include liver and kidney perfusion, tracer kinetic modeling, and the development of reproducible imaging protocols. He is deeply involved in EU and UK-wide initiatives like PARENCHIMA, OSIPI, and UKRIN-MAPS.

Scientific Leadership:

• Primary proposer and chair, PARENCHIMA (COST Action)
• Lead of clinical MRI development, TRISTAN (IMI)
• Work package lead, BEAt-DKD (IMI)
• Co-investigator and image processing lead, AFiRM, UKRIN-MAPS

He actively supervises PhD students and leads grant-funded projects from NIHR, MRC, and EPSRC. His work emphasizes collaboration, reproducibility, and clinical impact. He is a key figure in national and international networks dedicated to advancing medical imaging science.

Laboratory and Collaborations:

• Leads research in abdominal and cardiovascular imaging biomarkers
• Core member of PARENCHIMA, OSIPI, UKRIN
• Collaborates with industry (Bayer AG) and clinical teams
• Develops open-source tools for image analysis