Andrew S. Nencka

Andrew S. Nencka is a Professor and Director of the Center for Imaging Research at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Department of Radiology, with leadership roles including Associate Director of CIR (2016-present) and Chair of the Research MRI Safety Committee (2012-present).

His educational background:

• PhD in Biophysics, Medical College of Wisconsin, 2009
• BS in Physics & Mathematics, Marquette University, 2004

Dr. Nencka's research pioneers MRI acceleration techniques leveraging image phase and coil sensitivities for parallel acquisition, enabling 2N-fold acceleration with N-coil arrays. His GREASE pulse sequence achieves sub-300ms simultaneous T1/T2/T2* mapping through optimized echo-planar readouts and GRAPPA acceleration, facilitating perfect coregistration of relaxivity maps for neurological and musculoskeletal applications.

Recent publications (2023-2025) reveal dominant themes in quantitative neuroimaging (epilepsy connectomics, concussion biomarkers, neuropathic pain phenotypes) and advanced musculoskeletal MRI (carpal kinematics, spinal cord injury assessment), heavily utilizing diffusion tensor imaging, quantitative susceptibility mapping, and multi-echo sequences.

Scientific awards: None documented in source material.

Research leadership includes directing MCW's Center for Imaging Research and developing institutional MRI safety protocols, with collaborative projects spanning multi-site neurocognitive studies (MINDS-ACHD) and metal artifact reduction methodologies.

He maintains active research infrastructure through the Section of Imaging Research within Radiology's Division of Imaging Sciences.